9th Social Justice Film Festival 2019, Chennai

9th Social Justice Film Festival
12-14 April 2019; 10 am to 8 pm*
Periyar Thidal, Chennai
Jointly organised by
MARUPAKKAM & Periyar Self Respect Media

Curated & Presented by Amudhan R.P.
Screening Schedule
April 12
Session 01
10 am Inauguration
10:30 The Slave Genesis (Dir: Aneez Mappilla; 62 min)


The documentary ‘The Slave Genesis’ deals with the social transformation of Paniya tribals, who belong to South India’s hill district of Wayanad. ‘Paniya’ literally translates to ‘worker’.
11:30 Interaction
11:45 If She Built a Country (Dir: Maheen Mirza and Rinchin; 60 min)
As mines & power plants appear and grow in monstrous proportions around them, rural, adivasi women from the villages of Raigarh, Chhattisgarh critique the grand plan of development of the country. Many of them have been cheated of their land and compensation, their relationship with the forest & environment severed. As they grapple with all this, they seek justice for themselves & their communities and share their thoughts about how a country should be.
12:45 Interaction
Session 02
2pm The Men in the Tree (Dir: Lalit Vachani; 98 min)
At one level, this is a film about memory. It is a documentary in the form of a personal revisit where a filmmaker returns to the issues, the locations and the subjects of an earlier film.
3:40 Interaction
4 pm Tea break
4:15 Iron is Hot (Dir: Meghnath & Biju Toppo; 34 min)
Iron is Hot is a National Award Winning film which is based on the issue of sponge iron industry and its pollution and how people are trying to cope with it.
4:55 Taking Side (Dir: Meghnath & Biju Toppo; 37 min)
For centuries people have laid down their life taking side with the oppressed. This film is the story of Sr. Valsa John. She was born in Kerala and worked for the Adivasi of Jharkhand. She lead the struggle against the coal mining and laid down her life.
5:35 Interaction
Session 03
5:50 Wagah (Dir: Supriyo Sen; 13 min)
Every evening, the only border crossing along the 3323 km frontier between India and Pakistan becomes the site of an extraordinary event.
Border guards on both sides orchestrate a parade to lower the flags. Thousands of people gather to witness the ritual and afterwards the masses move
as close to the gate as possible to greet their former neighbours. The film looks through the eyes of three children who sell DVDs of the parade to the onlookers.
With a dream of crossing the border they remain quite unmoved by all the ‘patriotic’ madness around them.
6:05 Interaction
6:20 The Death of Us
(Dir: Vani Subramaniyan; 76 min)
The debates on the death penalty today are marked by a cacophony of strident assertions. Going against this tide is The Death of Us - a quiet contemplation on a range of cases in which the death penalty was pronounced, ending in execution, commutation to life sentence, acquittal or even pardon. Speaking only to those who have been on death row or those very closely involved with the cases, we engage in complex conversations on crime and punishment, revenge and justice, popular rhetoric and personal experiences. Only to find ourselves confronting larger ethical and moral questions across time and space.
7:40 Interaction
Day 2, 13 April
Session 01
10 am Some Stories Around Witches (Dir: Lipika Singh Darai; 44 min)
The film explores the politics of witch hunting - how superstition, greed, ignorance, fear, insecurity and power work together to cause immense violence and suffering.
10:45 Interaction
11:00 The Color of My Home (Dir: Sanjay Barnela & Farah Naqvi; 48 min)
What happens to people when they are violently displaced? Forced out of their home and ancestral village, buffeted by winds of hate, running for their lives, scattered like human debris in relief camps. Never able to return. How do they rebuild new homes and new lives, with hearts unable to leave the old one behind?
12:50 pm Interaction
Session 02
2 pm We Have Not Come Here to Die (Dir: Deepa Dhanraj; 110 min)
On January 17th 2016 a Dalit, Phd research scholar, and activist RohithVemula unable to bear the persecution from a partisan University administration and dominant caste Hindu supremacists hung himself in one of the most prestigious universities in India. His suicide note, which argued against the “value of a man being reduced to his immediate identity” galvanized student politics in India. Over the last year thousands of students all over the country have broken the silence around their experiences of caste discrimination in Universities and have started a powerful anti-caste movement. The film attempts to track this historic movement that is changing the conversation on caste in India.
3:50 Interaction
4:05 Tea break
4:20 Are You Going to School Today? (Dir: Anupama Srinavasan; 60 min)
The film takes us to rural schools in the predominantly tribal district of Dungarpur in southern Rajasthan. Children come from difficult contexts with very limited material resources, absentee fathers and younger siblings to attend to. How do teachers respond to this situation? How do they bring children to school and create an environment in which they are motivated to learn? Even as the film observes the efforts that teachers make, it explores the fragile relationship of children with schools. It seems that everyday the question needs to be asked anew, Are you going to school today?
5:20 Interaction
Session 03
5:35 Please Mind the Gap
(Dir: Mitali Trivedi & Gagandeep Singh; 24 min)
5:50 pm Swimming Through The Darkness (Dir: Supriyo Sen; 76 min)
Hailed from a poor family, blind boy Kanai Chakraborty chooses the daring life of a swimmer than becoming a singer and begging for living.
But his success in the sport couldn’t ensure him a job. Even at the age of 40, he has to continue swimming to retain a respectable identity.
7:10 Interaction
Day 3, 14 April
Session 01
10 am Skin Deep (Dir: Reena Mohan; 85 min)
The film traces the dynamics of the eternal search for the ideal femininity and how it permeates the self-image of contemporary women. Shot in the form of a docu-feature, it recreates interviews with various women into six first person narratives about body images and self-perception.
11:25 Interaction
11:40 The Hunt (Dir: Biju Toppo; 27 min)
The Film explores the condition of human rights in the Naxal affected areas of Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Orissa.
12:10 Accumulated Injustice (Dir: Meghnath & Biju Toppo; 27 min)
Adivasi people’s living condition on the dark side of Rourkela Steel Plant.
12:35 Interaction
12:50 Santhana Gopala (Dir: Sandeep Ravindranath; 8 min; short fiction)
A woman trapped in the dutiful bondage of an Indian arranged marriage grapples with the stigma of childlessness.
Her faith is her only pillar of strength as an oppressive social order strives to create a servile and dehumanized other, whose subjugation is then ensured.
Session 02
2 pm Coral Woman (Dir: Priya Thuvassery; 52 min)
This will be a filmmaker's journey with Uma, a certified scuba diver, exploring the underwater world & the threat to coral reefs of Gulf of Mannar, India.
Born in a traditional family in Tamil Nadu 53 years old Uma, a homemaker, has been trying to bring attention to this alarming environmental issue through her paintings.
It is, in fact, these corals that inspired Uma to learn how to swim, dive & paint in her 50s.
2:55 Interaction
3:10 Sound of Silence (Dir: Bina Paul; 59 min)
4:10 Interaction & Closing remarks
* Festival ends at 5 pm on 14th April

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