[Reader-list] Press Release - Call for Boycott

[Jeebesh Bagchi]

Subject: Press Release - Call for Boycott
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 19:39:34 +0530
From: MIFF CAMPAIGN <khel at vsnl.com>
To: MIFF_CAMPAIGN at rediffmail.com

CAMPAIGN AGAINST CENSORSHIP AT MIFF

PRESS RELEASE - MOST URGENT - 15 SEPTEMBER 2003

One hundred and seventy five of the leading documentary filmmakers of the
 country, having come together under the banner of a campaign against
 censorship at Miff2004, hereby announce a boycott of the Mumbai
 International Film Festival to be held in Mumbai in February 2004.

This follows a decision by the organisers of the festival, Films Division,
 Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to introduce a clause which
 requires Indian documentaries entered for the festival to be censored. It
 should be noted that foreign films entered at the festival do not need to be
 censored.

Since giving notice to Films Division and the Ministry over a month ago, the
 Campaign has tried it's best to keep channels of communications open with
 them. However, except for one meeting of filmmakers with the Joint Secretary
 (films) and a few stray remarks by the Minister, there has neither been any
 progress on this nor any communication to us.

As such, we have no choice but to boycott Miff2004. This is a shame because
 the festival was meant to promote the best of Indian documentaries and it
 can hardly claim to do this while it is simultaneously trying to muzzle the
 voice of the Indian documentary.

It is an accepted practice world-wide that film festivals are arenas of
 uninhibited and creative expression. No international festival of repute
 censors films. It is strange that Miff 2004 now wants to do this while it
 managed seven previous editions of MIFF without this regulation. It is even
 stranger that the Minster for Information and Broadcasting, Shri Ravi
 Shankar Prasad inaugurated the recently concluded PSBT-UNESCO film festival
 at Delhi where Indian as well as foreign films were screened without
 censorship certificates (or censorship exemptions), but the same terms
 cannot be applied to MIFF.

A question was also raised in the Parliament following which many
 parliamentarians have also protested the Miff regulations to the Ministry.
 However, the Ministry has not acted even on their representation.

As a follow up to the boycott call, we will undertake the following steps:

We will write immediately to leading international filmmakers worldwide
 asking them not to participate in the festival. Since this is a cause they
 all support, we see no problem in their supporting the campaign.


  1.. We will also write to all the international film festivals abroad
 asking for their support in condemning the Miff action.

  2.. We will seek support from different sections of civil society. Women's
 groups from all over the country are supporting our campaign and we will
 release a joint statement of these groups in the coming days. We are also in
 the process of gathering support from media organisations, civil liberties
 and democratic rights groups.

  We will soon also announce many other measures to promote the screening of
 documentaries in the country, and to encourage the growth of a healthier
 culture of public screenings.

  We request you to please give due coverage to this release.

  Yours sincerely,

  Pankaj Butalia and Saba Dewan
  91-11-26961065,26854839 26515161, (0)9810395589
  with Amar Kanwar - 91-11-26516088,26513556,(0)9810216088
  Rahul Roy - 91-11-26515161 & (0)9810395589
  Sameera Jain - 91-11-26220224 & (0)9810525985
  Sanjay Kak - 91-11-26893893 & (0)9811229952

on behalf of Campaign Against Censorship At MIFF

B-26 Gulmohar Park
New Delhi 110049

Email - miff_campaign at rediffmail.com

List of Signatories

  a.. Aanchal Kapur, New Delhi
  b.. Aarti Bhasin, Mumbai
  c.. Abir Bazaz, Noida
  d.. Aditya Seth, Mumbai
  e.. Ajay Bhardwaj, Delhi
  f.. Ajay Noronha, Mumbai
  g.. Ajay Raina, Mumbai (Golden Conch winner at MIFF)
  h.. Amar Kanwar, New Delhi. (Golden Conch winner at MIFF)
  i.. Ambarien Al Qadar, New Delhi
  j.. Anand Patwardhan, Mumbai (Golden Conch winner at MIFF)
  k.. Ananya Chatterjee, Kolkata
  l.. Anjali Gupta, New Delhi
  m.. Anjali Monterio, Mumbai (Certificate of Merit at two MIFF's)
  n.. Anjali Panjabi, Mumbai. (Silver Conch winner at MIFF)
  o.. Anupama Srinivasan, New Delhi
  p.. Anuradha Chandra, New Delhi
  q.. Aparna Sanyal, New Delhi
  r.. Arvind Sinha, Kolkata
  s.. Arun Chadha, New Delhi
  t.. Asheesh Pandya, Gurgaon, Haryana
  u.. Ashok Maridas, Bangalore
  v.. Ashwini Malik, Mumbai.
  w.. Batul Mukhtiar, Mumbai
  x.. Bela Negi, Mumbai
  y.. Berkley Sanjay, Los Angeles, California, USA
  z.. Bishakha Datta, Mumbai
  aa.. Chandita Mukherjee, Mumbai
  ab.. Charu Gargi, Mumbai.
  ac.. Charudutt Acharya, Mumbai
  ad.. Christopher Rego
  ae.. Daisy Hasan, Shillong
  af.. Daljit Ami, Chandigarh
  ag.. Darshan Trivedi, Ahmedabad
  ah.. Deepa Dhanraj, Bangalore
  ai.. Deepti Seshadri, Bangalore
  aj.. Deepu, Bangalore
  ak.. Deepanjali D Pandey, Manila, Phillipines
  al.. Dhiraj Kumar, New Delhi
  am.. Dilip Varma, Paris, France
  an.. E.K. Santha, Chennai
  ao.. Eddy Singh
  ap.. Gargi Sen, New Delhi
  aq.. Gauhar Raza, New Delhi
  ar.. Gautam Sonti, Bangalore
  as.. Hansa Thapliyal, Mumbai
  at.. I.K. Shukla, Delhi
  au.. Jabeen Merchant, Mumbai
  av.. Jeebesh Bagchi, Delhi
  aw.. Jyotsna Murthy, Bangalore
  ax.. KP Sasi, Bangalore
  ay.. Kapil Suravaram, Hyderabad
  az.. Kavita Joshi, Delhi
  ba.. Kirtana Kumar, Bangalore
  bb.. Konarak Reddy, Bangalore
  bc.. KP Jayshankar, Mumbai. (Certificates of Merit at MIFF)
  bd.. Kuttyrevathy, Chennai
  be.. Lalit Vachani, New Delhi
  bf.. Leena Manimekalai, Chennai
  bg.. Lille, Paris, France
  bh.. Lokesh Jain, Delhi
  bi.. Manjira Datta, New Delhi
  bj.. Meenu Gaur, Noida
  bk.. Meghnath, Ranchi
  bl.. Merajur Rahman Baruah, New Delhi
  bm.. Miriam Chandy Menacherry, Mumbai
  bn.. Monica Bhasin, New Delhi
  bo.. Monica Narula, Delhi
  bp.. Namarata Tandon, New Delhi
  bq.. Nandan Kudhyadi, Pune
  br.. Nandini Bedi, Mumbai,
  bs.. Navroze Contracter, Bangalore
  bt.. Nina Subramani, Delhi
  bu.. Nirmal Chander
  bv.. Oisika Chakrabarti, New York, USA
  bw.. Pankaj Butalia, New Delhi. (Golden Conch Winner at MIFF)
  bx.. Pankaj Rishi Kumar, Mumbai
  by.. Paromita Vohra, Mumbai
  bz.. Parvez Imam, Bangalore
  ca.. Pawan Sony, New Delhi
  cb.. Prem Aman, Hyderabad
  cc.. Preeti Chandriani, Mumbai
  cd.. Priya Sen, New Delhi
  ce.. Radhika Menon, Delhi
  cf.. Rahman M A, Kerala
  cg.. Rahul Ranadive, Delhi
  ch.. Rahul Roy, New Delhi
  ci.. Rajashree
  cj.. Rajul Mehta, Mumbai
  ck.. Rajiv Mehrotra, New Delhi
  cl.. Rakesh S Katarey, Manipal
  cm.. Rakesh Sharma, Mumbai
  cn.. Rajani Mani, Delhi
  co.. Ramachandra Babu, Trivandrum
  cp.. Ranjan De, New Delhi
  cq.. Ranjan Palit, Kolkata. (Golden Conch Winner at MIFF)
  cr.. Ranjani Mazumdar, Delhi
  cs.. Rappai Poothokaren
  ct.. Raza Haider, New Delhi
  cu.. Reena Mohan, New Delhi (Best First Film Award at MIFF)
  cv.. Rita Banerjee, Delhi
  cw.. Ritu Kapur, New Delhi
  cx.. Rosa Basanti, Delhi
  cy.. RR Srinivasan, Chennai
  cz.. Ruchir Joshi, Calcutta
  da.. Rupashree Nanda, Jaipur
  db.. RV Ramani, Chennai
  dc.. S.K.Das Mollick,
  dd.. Saba Dewan, New Delhi. (Certificate of Merit at MIFF)
  de.. Sabeena Gadihoke, Delhi (Certificate of Merit at MIFF)
  df.. Sabina Kidwai, New Delhi
  dg.. Sachin Singh, Delhi
  dh.. Sagari Chhabra, Delhi
  di.. Sahir Raza, New Delhi
  dj.. Sameera Jain. New Delhi. (Certificate of Merit at MIFF)
  dk.. Samina Mishra, New Delhi
  dl.. Sanjana , Bangalore
  dm.. Sanjay Kak. New Delhi
  dn.. Sanjit Narwekar, Mumbai
  do.. Sanjiv Shah, Ahmedabad
  dp.. Santosh Samuel , Delhi
  dq.. Sarada Vishnubhatla, New Delhi
  dr.. Satyajit Pande, Mumbai
  ds.. Sehjo Singh, New Delhi (Golden Conch Winner at MIFF)
  dt.. Shabnam Sukhdev
  du.. Shabnam Virmani, Bangalore
  dv.. Shammi Nanda, Jaipur
  dw.. Shashin Tiwari
  dx.. Shikha Jhingan, Delh
  dy.. Shilpi Sharma, Delhi
  dz.. Shohini Ghosh, Delhi
  ea.. Shoma Chatterjee, Kolkata
  eb.. Shriprakash Prakash, Ranchi
  ec.. Shrish Dobhal, New Delhi
  ed.. Shuddhabrata Sengupta., Delhi
  ee.. Simantini Dhuru, Mumbai
  ef.. Smriti Nevatia, Mumbai
  eg.. Sridala Swami, Hyderabad
  eh.. Sridhar Rangayan
  ei.. Stalin K., Ahmedabad (Silver Conch Winner at MIFF)
  ej.. Subasri Krishnan, Delhi
  ek.. Subhamoy Sengupta, Mumbai
  el.. Sudheer Gupta, New Delhi
  em.. Sudhir Aggarwal , Delhi
  en.. Sudheer Palsane, Mumbai
  eo.. Sujit Ghosh, Lucknow
  ep.. Sulekh, New Delhi
  eq.. Suma Josson, Mumbai
  er.. Sumit Kumar
  es.. Sunanda Bhat, Bangalore
  et.. Sunil Bhatia, Mumbai , (Golden Conch Winner at MIFF)
  eu.. Sunil Shanbag, Mumbai
  ev.. Supavitra Babul, New Delhi
  ew.. Supriyo Sen , Kolkata
  ex.. Surabhi Sharma, Bangalore
  ey.. Surajit Sarkar, New Delhi
  ez.. Swagat Sen, Delhi
  fa.. Uma Magal, Bangalore
  fb.. Uma Devi Tanaku, Pune
  fc.. Usha , Bangalore
  fd.. Uvraj, Bangalore
  fe.. V.Krishna Ananth, Chennai
  ff.. Vandana Mohindra, New Delhi
  fg.. Vani Subramanian, New Delhi
  fh.. Vasudha Joshi, Kolkata (Golden and Silver Conch Winner at MIFF)
  fi.. Veena Bakshi, Mumbai
  fj.. Vijay , Bangalore
  fk.. Vijay S. Jodha, New Delhi
  fl.. Vijay Shanker, Hyderabad
  fm.. Vinod Ganatra, Mumbai
  fn.. Vinod Raja, Bangalore
  fo.. Vipin Vijay, Trivandrum (Jury Award Winner at MIFF)
  fp.. Virender Grewal
  fq.. Yirmiyan Arthur, New Delhi
  fr.. Yousuf Saeed, New Delhi
  fs.. Zaheer A Bagh, Ladakh

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