[Reader-list] Latest on Campaign against Censorship at Miff 2004

[Harsh Kapoor]

[Earlier today Shuddha posted news item about the requirement of 
censorship certificates at the Mumbai International Film Festival. 
Posted below is a protest letter from Indian film makers which was 
sent out earlier today
xxx, Harsh]

o o o

Date: Fri, 01 Aug 2003 19:35:03 -0000
Latest On Campaign Against Censorship

Campaign against Censorship at Miff2004

Dear Friends,

Given below is the draft of the letter that was sent out today to
Films Division. Besides minor grammatical changes, it is the same
draft that was circulated to you. A copy of the letter with signatory
list has also been sent to the Minister, Secretary and JS (films) of
I&B.

We are organizing a press conference in Delhi on Tuesday, 5 August,
2004 (Press Club, 3:00PM) to publicize this protest. We request you
to take the initiative with other members in your city on the same
day and circulate this letter to the press with your comments. This
is the best way of ensuring that the campaign is not only publicized
in the largest number of areas possible but also functions in a
decentralized manner.

We had requested members to send details of their MIFF awards but
very few did. As such we had to rely on our collective memory to make
a list. We are sorry if there are any errors/omissions. Some members
may also object to our including any reference to previous awards but
it was done as a matter of strategy.

We have also taken the liberty of giving an address and putting the
names of six filmmakers in Delhi as contact persons. Again, this is
not to violate the democratic spirit of this campaign, but just to
provide Films Division/the Ministry an address and some persons who
can be contacted at short notice.

We will pursue the Films Division and the Ministry on an urgent basis
and if no reply if received within ten days, we will have to consider
other options. Please also give serious thought to how to proceed
from here. But let us be systematic and ensure the success of
whatever we do. Do send us all your ideas. We will collate these and
circulate the essence of them to others. Several ideas have already
been sent to us and circulated on E groups. Our suggestion is that we
should draw up a collective action programme so that the campaign is
effective. We have received mails, which have called for a boycott, a
parallel festival, protests during MIFF, legal action , etc. We
should give all these options a serious collective thought after the
result of our letter to the Ministry and the Films Division becomes
clear.

With best wishes.

Amar Kanwar
Pankaj Butalia
Rahul Roy
Saba Dewan
Sameera Jain
Sanjay Kak


Campaign against Censorship at Miff2004
B-26 Gulmohar Park
New Delhi 110049

August 1, 2003

Re : Discrimination against Indian documentaries at Miff 2004

The Chief Producer,
Films Division,
Mumbai

Dear Sir,

We, the following documentary film makers from all over the country,
are extremely
distressed over the news that for the first time since the inception
of MIFF
(Mumbai International Film Festival), the possession of a censor
certificate has been
imposed by the Films Division as a precondition for participation of
Indian films at
the festival. Assuming this is not an attempt to control the content
and intensity of Indian documentaries, two reasons could be behind
this measure:

1. The censor certificate helps to mark the completion date of the
film
2. That without a valid censor certificate a film cannot be screened
at a cinema hall / theatre in India

In this context we wish to point out that:

All films participating in an Indian International Film Festival
(features or documentaries) are given (and have always been given) a
specific censorship exemption by the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting, Government of India, for the duration of the festival
and for all festival related special screenings. This is how all
international films, which are not subjected to censorship by the
Indian Government, are screened at Indian international film
festivals including previous MIFFs and IFFIs.
Subjecting Indian films to this requirement  amounts to muffling the
voice of Indian documentaries and is a discriminatory practice since
it puts them at a disadvantage vis a vis international films which do
not require any such certification.

( b)  International film festivals worldwide take the film
director/producer's certification (or self statement ) as sufficient
proof for date of completion of a film. It is surprising that  MIFF
can accept such a certification from international film makers but
not from Indian filmmakers.

Does this policy suggest that Indian filmmakers are not as
trustworthy as foreign filmmakers ?

It may also be pointed out that the seven previous MIFF ( BIFF)
festivals did not have this discriminatory practice and  were
conducted without any problem whatsoever.

We the undersigned are extremely concerned about this completely
arbitrary, unfair and discriminatory condition imposed by you. We
request you to please take immediate action on this so that the
participation of the largest number of Indian film makers is assured
at the festival.

We are a mature society  and need not display such mistrust nor
resort to practices which harm the interests of its own members. We
have also shared this anxiety with film making colleagues and
festival organisers all over the world and they too have expressed
their concern at this development.

We hope we will not have to take this further and that the matter
will be resolved amicably. An early reply or a meeting with our
representatives will be highly appreciated. We are prepared to meet
in Delhi or Bombay. Any of the names mentioned below can be contacted
for this purpose.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Pankaj Butalia and Saba Dewan
26961065,26854839. 26515161 & 98103 95589

and
Amar Kanwar   011- 26513556, 26516088, 98102 16088
Rahul Roy   011-26515161 & 98103 95589
Sameera Jain   011- 26220224 & 98105 25985
Sanjay Kak   011- 26893893 & 98112 29952

on behalf of all the filmmakers listed in the letter.



Enclosed : Complete list of signatories
Copy : Minister, Information & Broadcasting, Government of India.
Secretary, Information & Broadcasting, Government of India
Jt. Secretary (films), Information & Broadcasting, Government of India


List of Signatories

Aditya Seth
Ajay Bhardwaj, Delhi
Ajay Noronha, Mumbai
Amar Kanwar, Delhi. (Golden Conch winner at MIFF)
Anand Patwardhan, Mumbai (Golden Conch winner at MIFF)
Ananya Chatterjee, Kolkata
Anjali Gupta, New Delhi
Anjali Monterio, Mumbai (Certificate of Merit at two MIFF's)
Anjali Panjabi, Mumbai. (Silver Conch winner at MIFF)
Anuradha Chandra, New Delhi
Aparna Sanyal, New Delhi
Arvind Sinha
Ashok Maridas, Bangalore
Ashwini Malik, Mumbai.
Batul Mukhtiar, Mumbai
Bishakha Datta, Mumbai
Chandita Mukherjee, Mumbai
Charu Gargi, Mumbai.
Christopher Rego
Daljit Ami
Deepu, Bangalore
Eddy Singh
Gargi Sen, New Delhi
Jabeen Merchant, Mumbai
Jeebesh Bagchi, Delhi
Jyotsna Murthy, Bangalore
Kavita Joshi, Delhi
Kirtana Kumar, Bangalore
Konarak Reddy, Bangalore
KP Jayshankar, Mumbai. (Certificates of Merit at MIFF)
Kuttyrevathy, Kerala
Lalit Vachani, New Delhi
Manjira Datta, New Delhi
Meghnath, Ranchi
Monica Narula, Delhi
Nandan Kudhyadi, Pune
Pankaj Butalia, New Delhi. (Golden Conch Winner at MIFF)
Paromita Vohra, Mumbai
Parvez Imam, Bangalore
Pawan Sony, New Delhi
Rahul Roy, New Delhi
Rajul Mehta, Mumbai
Rakesh S Katarey, Manipal
Rakesh Sharma, Mumbai
Ranjan De, New Delhi
Ranjan Palit, Kolkata. (Golden Conch Winner at MIFF)
Ranjani Mazumdar, Delhi
Reena Mohan, New Delhi (Best First Film Award at MIFF)
Ritu Kapur, New Delhi
RR Srinivasan, Chennai
Ruchir Joshi, London, UK
Rupashree Nanda, Jaipur
RV Ramani, Chennai
Saba Dewan, New Delhi. (Certificate of Merit at MIFF)
Sabeena Gadihoke, Delhi (Certificate of Merit at MIFF)
Sameera Jain. New Delhi. (Certificate of Merit at MIFF)
Samina Mishra, New Delhi
Sanjana , Bangalore
Sanjay Kak. New Delhi
Sanjit Narwekar, Mumbai
Sehjo Singh, New Delhi (Golden Conch Winner at MIFF)
Shabnam Virmani, Bangalore
Shashin Tiwari
Shohini Ghosh, Delhi
Shoma Chatterjee, Kolkata
Shriprakash Prakash, Ranchi
Shuddhabrata Sengupta., Delhi
Simantini Dhuru, Mumbai
Sridhar Rangayan
Stalin K., Ahmedabad (Silver Conch Winner at MIFF)
Sudheer Palsane, Mumbai
Sujit Ghosh, Lucknow
Sumit Kumar
Sunanda Bhat, Bangalore
Sunil Bhatia, Mumbai
Sunil Shanbag, Mumbai
Supavitra Babul, New Delhi
Surabhi Sharma, Bangalore
Surajit Sarkar, New Delhi
Swagat Sen, Delhi
Usha , Bangalore
Uvraj, Bangalore
Vani Subramanian, New Delhi
Vasudha Joshi, Kolkata (Golden and Silver Conch Winner at MIFF)
Veena Bakshi, Mumbai
Vijay , Bangalore
Vinod Ganatra
Vinod Raja, Bangalore
Vipin Vijay, Trivandrum (Jury Award Winner at MIFF)
Yousuf Saeed, New Delhi
Zaheer A Bagh, Ladakh