25th Madurai Film Festival : Medium Length Documentaries - India

25th Madurai Film Festival : Medium Length Documentaries - India

Insides and Outsides

Dir: Arbab Ahmad; 53 min; Documentary; India

Insides and Outsides starts its journey from the end of 2019, when the government approved discriminatory citizenship laws and a Nazi Germany-esque registry, the combination of which threatened violent disenfranchisement of India's Muslim community. In response to brutal state crackdown against Muslim students protesting the laws, massive gatherings led by Muslim women, sat vigil at neighbourhood-run, self-sustaining 24-hour sit-ins. Arbab's sense of identity as a Muslim and his responsibility towards the community were jolted awake. 

SHAKILA - The Collage of Struggle 

Dir: Subhasis Chakraborty; 49 min; Documentary; India 

SHAKILA – The Collage of Struggle is an art historical essay illustrating the cultural identity of a subaltern artist. The art form of collage was initiated by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in France as a revolution in art form, whereas Shakila started collage as she was too poor to buy brush and paints. Shakila’s visual voyage has been merged with a song of Lalon Sain, an unorthodox medieval saint who advocated in favour of religious eclecticism.

The Sea & Seven Villages 

Dir : Himansu S Khatua; 56.46 min; Documentary; India 

Sea level rise along the Bay of Bengal, coastal erosion, frequent cyclones and mismanagement of coastal land have resulted in destruction of homes, agricultural lands and the entire settlement of Seven Villages of Kendrapara district of Odisha,india. People of these villages migrated from their birth place and became refugees in their own state.

God Vulture and Human - A hero’s dichotomy 

Dir : Rishiraj Agarwal; 49.27 min; Documentary; India 

The film explores the subject of organ donation through the lens of transplant coordinators working, highlighting their role in the process of organ donation, retrieval and transplantation. Through the lives of 4 transplant coordinators, the film deals with the intensities of life and death, and an attempt to humanise the coordinators. 

Compassionate 

Dir : Niladri Sekhar Dassarma; 40 min; Documentary; India 

The sacred land of Tarapeeth(West Bengal, India) crematorium buzzes with the Baul song and the chanting of goddess Tara by a man who roams barefoot whole life, as a part of his practice and meditates within the rituals of life. He is Kanai Das Baul (Blind by birth), the legendary Baul pactionar of India.

Mahanadi - The River in the Eye of a Poet

Dir : Jubanashwa Mishra; 59 min; Documentary; India 

The hour long feature documentary film titled ‘MAHANADI - The River in the Eye of a Poet’ is a novel attempt to capture the quintessential spirit of the great river Mahanadi, the lifeline of the eastern state of Odisha in India, through the literary imagination of poets throughout known history. 

Other Kohinoors, the Rocks of Hyderabad 

Dir : Uma Magal; 48.49 min; Documentary; India 

A documentary love letter to the rocks of Hyderabad, celebrating their infusion in the areas cultural imagination, calling to retain the rocks that remain. The hope is growing with the outreach happening with this film, that showcasing the respect and affection with which the culture treats the environment & landscape will reignite that connection to the landscape today. 

The Club 

Dir : Nalini Elvino de Sousa; 54.34 min; Documentary; India / Tanzania 

A documentary that portrays the life of Goans in Tanzania and the club that united them.

P for Pyaaz (Onion), P for Paisa (Money), P for Paani (Water)

Dir: Laxminarayan Devda; 56:14; India; Documentary

In the fragile hydrogeological region of Narmada valley, a sizable number of affluent farmers descend from the rich Malwa plateau to take land on lease from marginal farmers at an attractive price. They grow onion, a highly lucrative commercial crop, a trend that is soon followed by the local farmers as well. But Onion is a water-intensive crop - while the cash income is the target, what is the impact of the new practice on the depleting groundwater table? The filmmaker follows one season of farming and the market vulnerability of the perishable cash crop of onion against the fragile landscape.

The Bird, The Priest and The Sixteen Millet Thieves

Dir: Milind Chhabra; 57:40; India; Documentary

Rala (Foxtail millet) is integral in the lives of the natives of central India, evident by its presence in their rituals, myths, legends and ballads; it’s fascinating that these stories even hint at the disappearance of Rala from the farm fields, diet and the people’s psyche. Oscillating between the ballads and the present times, The Bird, the Priest and The Sixteen Millet Thieves tells the story of grains and farm fields, rains and pests, market and diet, following the life cycle of Rala and the dwindling cultivation practice of this indigenous crop.

Bonded

Dir: Shobhit Jain; 56:19; India; Documentary

The film takes an ethnographic look into the life of a bonded labourer in a remote tribal village in central India.

The Leopard’s Tribe 

Dir : Miriam Chandy Menacherry; 40 min; Documentary; India 

Mumbai authorities axe thousands of trees to expand a mass transit system. Home to 10,000 indigenous tribals led by Prakash Bhoir a scuffle unfolds to protect forest and the leopard they worship. A battle to save the green lungs of India’s financial capital unfolds. 

Teens of 1942

Dir : Samiran Deka; 42 min; Documentary; India

In 1942, Sri Bholanath Nagaria (now 96 Years) , Sri Golapi Chetiya( 95 Years), Sri Radha Bora (102 Years), Sri Jitendra Nath Sarma (98 Years), Sri Punneswar Duwara (97 Years), Sri Khargeswar Chetiya Phukan (92 Years), Sri Krishna Kanta Lahkar (95 Years), Sri Tanka Bora( 102Years), Sri Golak Hazarika (97 Years) were teenagers who had shown utmost patriotism. “Teens of 1942” is an attempt to recall and remember the struggle of some of the valiant freedom fighters, our unsung heroes, many of whom are unknown to the new generation.