Gandhi Film Festival 2019, Chennai

Gandhi Film Festival 2019

11 am to 8 pm @ Periyar Thidal, Chennai

Screening Schedule

11 am Inauguration

11:15 am Salt Stories
Dir: Lalit Vachani; 84 min; Color and B&W; 2008

In 1930, a group of Indians led by a frail, elderly man marched a distance of 241 miles. They marched for salt. Mahatma Gandhi was able to craft an anti-colonial, nationalist movement around the most basic issue of livelihood: the right of Indians to make and consume their own salt.

77 years later, the Wide Eye Film team followed the trail of the famous Dandi salt march, stopping at the same villages and towns, in search of Gandhi's legacy.

Set against the backdrop of Gandhi's original journey, this is a road-movie about issues of livelihood in modern, globalizing India. It is a documentary about 'the salt stories' of our times.

12:40 pm Interaction with Prof A Marx, writer / human right activist

1 pm lunch break

2 pm War and Peace

Dir: Anand Patwardan; 135 min; 2002

Filmed over four tumultuous years in India, Pakistan, Japan and the USA following nuclear tests in the Indian sub-continent, War and Peace is a documentary journey of peace activism in the face of global militarism and war. The film is framed by the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, an act whose portent and poignancy remains undiminished half a century later.

4:15 Interaction

4:30 Tea break

4:45 Dhaga Mil Gaya/ I Found A Thread

Dir : Tangella Madhavi; 25 min/ Documentary/ HDV/ 2009/Produced by NHK, Japan

The film presents the world of Malti, a Gandhian living in Sewagram. The narrative takes interesting turns as the director’s lifestyle come face to face and stands in contrast to Malti’s. Overcoming doubts, the director goes ahead and indulges into another pair of expensive shoes but things will never be the same for her …

The film subtly talks about consumerism and the relevance Gandhian values in the contemporary world.

5:10 Interaction

5:25 Hey Mr Gandhi!

Dir: Amudhan R.P.; 40 min; 2011

A cluster of 3 villages near Madurai inhabited by small and medium farmers, depending upon a common land for grazing and cultivation is under threat now as the Government wants to set up a tax free Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for Indian and international corporate companies. The film remembers and recalls Mahatma Gandhi who always preferred and supported rural economy and agriculture.

6 05 Interaction

6:20 pm Our Gauri

Dir : Dipu; 65 min ; 2017

Gauri Lankesh was one of the Karnataka’s most prominent and fearless journalists. She was shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru on the night of 5th September, 2017. Gauri spoke out against communal forces in the country and represented dissent and freedom of speech.

 The film is more than a personal tribute and follows her political journey, envisaging what she stood for and her struggle for communal harmony until her last breath. And her life story has become the history of Karnataka’s fight against right-wing communal forces.

7:25 Interaction and closing remarks