The list of documentaries that will be screened on Day Two – January 31, 2014.
A Dream called America’ is a documentary made on Shahbaz, a 15 year old boy from Ahmedabad. He is the third among five children of Aftab, who makes a living by repairing cycles on a footpath. Shahbaz had studied in the US for a year on a scholarship, where he was hosted by an American couple. The one year he spent in US changed his attitude, as he experienced … Continue reading A DREAM CALLED AMERICA – by Anoop Sathyan – 25 mins
2012 | India Bengali | 58 mins Director: Sankhajit Biswas Screening on 31st January 2014 ( Download Schedule PDF) This is a story of Chiranjit and Bubai – two young transgender friends from Kolkata. They drop out from school because of their feminine disposition. Hailing from poor and uneducated families, they confront social ostracisation from a tender age. However, it helps strengthen their bond as friends. Like … Continue reading IN BETWEEN DAYS – by Sankhajit Biswas – 58 mins
‘Prakash Travelling Cinema’ attempts to capture the spirit of an age old medium of entertainment through a bioscope film projector owned by two friends who share a deep friendship, unceasing optimism and most of all, an undying passion for their travelling cinema. The documentary takes you through their lives on the street where they walk around the city lugging their antique travelling cinema and lure people into watching snatches of full-length … Continue reading PRAKASH TRAVELLING CINEMA – by Megha Lakhani – 13 mins
Portraits of Belonging: Bhai Mian Sameera Jain Documentary/30 min/1998/India/Hindi with English Subtitles Bhai Mian is a kite maker who lives in the last historic Delhi – Shahjahanabad, the city built by Mughal emperor Shahjahan in the 17th century. The film is a portrait of the man in his context, a man whose ordinariness barely conceals his imagination and resilience. Like many others of the Muslim … Continue reading Portraits of Belonging: Bhai Mian – by Sameera Jain – 30 mins
Presence Yashaswini Raghunandan and Ekta Mittal Documentary/17min/2012/India/Hindi with English subtitles Presence is part of film series called “Behind the Tin Sheets”. The film explores the haunting attributes of the transformation in the city against the ghost stories narrated by the workers. “The ghost is not simply a dead or a missing person, but a social figure, and investigating [that social figure]…lead[s] to that dense site … Continue reading Presence – by Yashaswini Raghunandan and Ekta Mittal – 17mins
Hamaare Ghar Kislay Fiction/31 min/2013/India/Hindi with English Subtitles Kamla works as a full time maid in Raj and Simran’s house. Simran is affectionate and regularly showers Kamla with gifts and old clothes. In this ‘modern’ home, there is no obvious violence and hierarchies but, as Kamla slowly realizes, it is hidden behind caring words and gestures of love. When Pihu, Kamla’s younger sister, arrives such … Continue reading Hamaare Ghar – by Kislay – 31 mins
The film starts off with a seemingly peaceful and tranquil morning, which suddenly gives way to an industrial landscape cluttered with heavy machinery and an eerie cacophony of mechanical, almost musical sound. We observe how raw metal goes through different stark processes of melting, bending and stacking, before it is ready to be sold. The film maker critiques safety issues in this film, as we see workers dealing with chunks of … Continue reading I sing the body electric – by Shalinee Ghosh – 6 mins
The Adventure of a Married Couple Keywan Karimi, Iran, 11 min Trapped in daily repetition, between the frenetic sound of a glass bottle factory and the guarding of a shed filled with naked mannequins, a young couple meets at evenings. They eat without looking at each other, not even speaking. The Adventure of the Married Couple (Based on a story written by Italo Calvino) is a … Continue reading The Adventure of a Married Couple – by Keywan Karimi, Iran, 11 mins
Mariyammal, a sanitary worker with Madurai Municipal Corporation shares her frustration and anger with the filmmaker while cleaning astreet near by a temple in Madurai which is full of shit. Manual scavenging is officially prohibited in India since 1996. But lakhs of such men and women are made to clean night soil in the cities, towns and villages here. Most of them do not even get proper salary as it … Continue reading Shit – by Amudhan RP – 26 mins
THIS BIT OF THAT INDIA English, 20 min, B/W, 1975 Directed by SNS Sastry Produced by Films Division “This Bit Of That India” is a layered refection on several things – youth, diversity, progress, education and technology. With an enormous undercurrent of adolescence and sexuality, the film weaves in and out of seemingly disjointed documentary moments of that are a celebration of individual freedom. These … Continue reading This Bit of That India – SNS Sastry – 21 min
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE Hindi and English, 18 min, B/W, 1974 Directed by S Sukhdev Produced by Films Division “On the 16th of April, I read a news item that there is going to be an all India railway strike. I got a little worried. We decided to take the camera out to the people and ask them a few questions.” Film maker S. Sukhdev … Continue reading Voice of the People – S Sukhdev – 18 Min
DILLY DALLYING English, 10 min, B/W, 1957 Directed by KL Khandpur Produced by Films Division A short-fiction film set in the city of Mumbai, focusing on the importance of punctuality in the life of the individual towards the service of the nation. The message of the film is that the habit of procrastination and vacillation can ruin a man and harm society at large. Part … Continue reading Dilly Dallying – KL Khandpur – 10 min
STINKING STORY Hindi and English, 16 min, B/W, 1980 Directed by Loksen Lalvani Produced by Films Division In large cities, there are sky-scrapers, cinema houses, five-star hotels, race courses and petrol pumps but very few public urinals and latrines. It is an uncivilized and unhygienic act to urinate or defecate anywhere and everywhere. A hybrid film that combines comic fictional and stylised documentary elements urging … Continue reading Stinking Story – Loksen Lalvani – 10 min
Night Hawks Directed by: Uma Tanuku Produced by: PSBT and Films Division Observational/52min/2012/India/Hindi with English Subtitles The Film observes life as it unravels during the night in the metropolis of Delhi – a patrolling unit on the expressway, bandwallahs at a wedding, inmates of a night shelter as they dine and retire for the night, a vegetable mandi, night outreach group setting out for the … Continue reading Night Hawks – by Uma Tanuku – 52 mins
At My Doorstep Nishtha Jain Documentary/ 70 min/2009/ India/Hindi with English Subtitles A closer look at those who come to the filmmaker’s door becomes a way of entering a parallel world of garbage collectors, domestic workers, delivery boys, watchmen—all those who labour long hours in difficult conditions to make middle and upper class lives in the city of Bombay more comfortable. These providers of services … Continue reading At My Doorstep – by Nishtha Jain – 70 mins
El Olvido Heddy Honigmann Documentary/93 min/2008/Peru/Spanish with English subtitles If the city of Lima were covered in dust, nobody would see it. It is not, really, but all the same hardly anybody sees it or thinks about it, about its people cheated century after century and neglected by its rulers. In order to come out of oblivion, there needs to be an earthquake grade 8 on … Continue reading El Olvido – by Heddy Honigmann – 93 min
Please Vote for Me Weijun Chen Documentary/58min/2007/China/Mandarin with English subtitles A grade 3 class at Evergreen Primary School has their first encounter with democracy by holding an election to select a Class Monitor. Eight-year olds compete against each other for the coveted position, abetted and egged on by teachers and doting parents. The three candidates, two boys and a girl, are chosen by the teachers, … Continue reading Please Vote for Me – by Weijun Chen – 58 mins
Sheharnama 