25th Madurai Film Festival 2023 : MUTA Hall

25th Madurai Film Festival

Screening Schedule

10 December

MUTA Hall, KaKa Thoppu 

11 am 

I am not

Dir : Tomer Heymann; 99.48 min; Documentary; Israel

Oren was adopted from Guatemala by an Israeli family when he was a baby. Long unable to find his place in society, the teenager has been subject to ridicule because of his communication difficulties, while at the same time dealing with recurring false diagnoses of mental illness. Oren decides to take up a small video camera and document his own life. 

January 

Dir : Biswajit Das; 21.51 min; Documentary; India 

January is a documentary film before and after their debut performance "Hei Heiya Hae Hou" by the Manipuri group Survivors in Guwahati in January 2023.

1 pm : Lunch break

2 pm Unhusk

Dir : Jue Wang; 57.20 min; Documentary; China

A decade after her photos spotlighted China’s rice farming traditions, a photographer returns to document vanishing lifeways. As landscapes and villages empty, who will grow the rice now? This lyrical requiem explores how once-thriving cultural heritage erodes when communities disperse and young inheritors dwindle.

3 pm NUESTRA VENGANZA ES SER FELICES

Dir : Malena Villarino; 75 min; Documentary; Brazil

‘Our revenge is to be happy’ is a documentary about the life of Sonia Sánchez, and her transformation from a victim of sexual exploitation to a subject of rights, a writer and a feminist activist. The film urges us to inquire about sex work, and raises various questions such as: Is prostitution the oldest job in the world or is it the oldest form of exploitation of women’s bodies? 

4.15 pm Tea break

4.30

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 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.