[Reader-list] GOA: Asian Women's Film Festival and Our Lives (currently on in Panjim)

[rohitrellan at aol.in]

INTERNATIONAL CENTRE GOA
in association with
ENTERTAINMENT SOCIETY OF GOA
DEPARTMENT OF WOMEN'S STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF GOA
&
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN IN RADIO AND TELEVISION (IAWRT)
INDIA CHAPTER

present

10th IAWRT Asian Women’s Film Festival 2014
&
2nd Our Lives...To Live Film Festival 2014
(seeking a JUST world!)
a never-before 2-in-1 film festival! four days of exciting screenings
with selections from both festivals accompanied by engaging
discussions

ANIMATION, COMMUNITY VIDEOS, DOCUMENTARIES, EXPERIMENTAL FILMS,
FEATURE FICTION, MUSIC VIDEOS, SHORT FICTION
from 13 countries

13 to 16 March 2014
at Entertainment Society of Goa (Auditorium 2)
Maquinez Palace (near Fish Market),
Old GMC Heritage Precinct, D.B.Marg, Campal, Panaji, Goa 403001

Thur 13 March 3 to 7:15 pm
Fri 14 March 11 am to 1 pm & 3 to 7 pm
Sat 15 March 11 am to 1pm & 3 to 8 pm
Sun 16 March 11 am to 1pm & 3 to 8 pm

Organised every year by the India Chapter of the International
Association of Women in Radio & Television (IAWRT), the IAWRT Asian
Women’s Film Festival is the only festival of its kind in the world.
It showcases the works of women filmmakers of Asian origin, across a
range of genres with no restrictions on theme or duration. (for
further details, please visit iawrtindia.blogspot.in)

OUR LIVES...TO LIVE (films of courage, protest, hope) is a
multi-location travelling film festival. Last year our tag line was
"NO! to gender violence" and we had immensely successful versions of
the festival in many parts of the country, continuing all through the
year. This time the theme is Justice, and so through this festival we
are "seeking a JUST world!" (write to iawrtindiafestival at gmail.com for
details and to plan your own festival with films from our package!)

SCHEDULE OF FILMS AND DISCUSSIONS 13-16 MARCH 2014 AT ESG Auditorium 2

THUR 13 MARCH
Day 1 from 3 pm to 7:15 pm

3 pm to 3:15 pm: Welcome & Introductions by International Centre Goa
Smriti Nevatia, IAWRT representative, gives the highlights of the
programme for the coming days.

3.15 pm
POLA I Kinshuk Surjan
India I 15 min I 2012 I fiction

The story is set in the context of the farmers' suicides. Bittu is a
carefree and boisterous 9-year-old who grows anxious as he watches his
father break down slowly under the pressure of debt. Bittu tries to
protect his father in whatever ways he can.

3.30 pm
TAKING ROOT: THE VISION OF WANGARI MAATHAI | Lisa Merton, Alan Dater
USA-Kenya I 80 min I 2008 I documentary | English version
Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize,
discovered her life's work by reconnecting with the rural women with
whom she had grown up. They worked together against deforestation,
poverty, ignorance, and government corruption, until they became a
national political force that helped to bring down Kenya's 24-year
dictatorship.

4.50 pm to 5.45 pm: Discussion around the theme of environmental
justice and right to resources with Sebastian Rodrigues

5.45 pm: Break (15 min)

6.00 pm
MY FANCY HIGH HEELS | Ho Chao-Ti
Taiwan | 55 min | 2010 | documentary
Filmed over a period of two years, the film rigorously traces the
journey of a pair of branded high-heeled shoes, and looks at the
dreams of the people involved.

FRI 14 MARCH
Day 2 (morning) from 11 am to 1.15 pm

11 am
Video Volunteers ARTICLE 17 (Untouchability series)
India I 2012 onwards I various languages
Untouchability at Water Taps
0:38 min I Gujarati
Village women vigorously clean common water taps only because a Dalit
has used it before them. They maintain that even if a Dalit has
brushed up against it, the tap has to be ‘purified’.

Murdered for Breaking Untouchability Rules
0:53 min I Punjabi
In 2005, Prakash Singh Jandali, a Dalit Sikh, lost his son, his
daughter-in-law who belonged to a different caste and an unborn
grandchild to a murderous backlash by angry ‘upper castes’. The
suspects were never apprehended. Seven years later, he is just another
statistic of caste atrocities, awaiting justice from a system that
rarely delivers.

Untouchability with Life-Giving Midwife
1:19 min I Hindi
Most midwives in India belong to the Dalit community. Once the child
is born, however, the touch of a midwife is deemed unacceptable for
the mother and child. Even if invited to the birth celebrations, she
will be kept away from the festivities and fed separately in a place
outside.

Video Volunteers INDIA UNHEARD series
Areeb Hashmi, Stalin K
I Am Nirbhaya
India I 2013 I 9:30 min I various languages
The anger after the “Nirbhaya” rape case has diffused but not
disappeared. We — women, men, feminists, activists and politicians —
continue to ask questions and seek answers as to how we can end rape.
This video poses some pointed questions to patriarchy.

11.20 am
BANAZ: A LOVE STORY I Deeyah Khan
UK I 2012 I 68 min I English
A film chronicling an act of overwhelming horror, the brutal honour
killing of Banaz Mahmod. This film tells Banaz’s story in her own
words, as well as the story of the extraordinary police team who
refused to give up their campaign to bring her killers to justice.

12.30 to 1.15 pm: Discussion on Patriarchy and Violence Against Women
including Caste-based Violence with Dr Pramod Salgaocar and Tania
Devaiah

1.15 to 3 pm: Lunch break

Day 2 (afternoon) from 3 pm to 4.15 pm

3 pm
MADLY IN LOVE | Ikue Sugidono
Japan | 5 min | 2013 | animation
A woman wants to decorate herself with a cute cake. But in reality,
she doesn’t like a man who takes interest only in the surface.

3.05 pm
GURBET PASTASI - JOURNEY OF THE CAKE | Ayse Funda Aras
Turkey | 56 min | 2013 | documentary
A story of migration, wealth and poverty as the Hemşin people of the
Black Sea struggle to keep their craft of cake making alive for five
generations.

4 pm to 4.15 pm: Discussion about the films

4.15 pm Break (15 min)

Day 2 (evening) from 4.30 pm to 7 pm

4.30 pm
THE ACT OF KILLING | Joshua Oppenheimer
Denmark-Norway-UK I 116 min I 2012 I documentary
The filmmakers challenge unrepentant death squad leaders in Indonesia
to dramatize their role in the ’60s genocide. The hallucinatory result
is a cinematic fever dream, an unsettling journey deep into the
imaginations of mass-murderers and the shockingly banal regime of
corruption and impunity they inhabit.

6.30 to 7 pm: Discussion about the film and issues of state violence,
genocide, impunity with Nandita Haksar

SAT 15 MARCH

Day 3 (morning) from 11 am to 1.15 pm

11 am
AN ALMOST PERFECT DAY | Humaira Bilkis
Bangladesh | 12 min | 2012 | short fiction
One day, a young tourist guide meets a girl and proposes, but the love
remains incomplete.

11.15 am
EVENING IN GAY MAHARASHTRA I Natasha Mendonca
India I 5 Min I 2013 I music video
If gay meant happy them days, and gay means illegal nowadays, what is
it that we choose to reap? Violence, shame and repression, or freedom
of being and expression? The musicians and crew all worked in unison
to experiment with the single take as a form. The song is performed by
Suman Sridhar.

11.20 am
… AND THE UNCLAIMED | Debalina
India I 62 min | 2013 | documentary
Two young girls in Nandigram committed suicide, and their bodies
remained unclaimed. Moments of love and hatred emerge as their own
love story unfolds.

12.25 pm to 1.15 pm: Discussion on Sexuality, Gender and Sec 377 with
Arushi Singh

1.15 pm to 3 pm Lunch break

Day 3 (afternoon) 3 pm to 4.15 pm

3 pm
CREDITS VERSUS CARBON CREDITS I Bharati Chaturvedi
India I 23 min I 2012 I documentary
This community-made video explores the effects of large projects vying
for carbon credits on the livelihoods of waste pickers. It chronicles
the journey of two waste workers from New Delhi: Aasma Bibi and Jai
Prakash Choudhary aka Santu.

3.25 pm to 3.45 pm Discussion on Garbage/ Waste in the context of
environment & livelihoods – discussion with Tallulah D’Silva

3.45 pm
THE LAST MANGO SEASON I Surya Shankar Dash
India I 2 min I 2010
The threat of obliteration looms large over the mango paradise of Niyamgiri.

3.50 pm
THE BREADFRUIT TREE | Priyamvada Narayanan
India I 22 min | 2013 | short fiction
Complex layers of love, loss and meaning unfold in a Bandra home, as
Edwin tries his best to save a tree.

4.15 pm: Break (15 min)
Day 3 (evening) from 4.30 pm to 8 pm

4.30 pm
Newsclick
MUZAFFARNAGAR RIOT VICTIMS
India I 2013-2014 I 2 shorts I Hindi with English text

Part 1: Testimonials
2. Missing, raped, killed. Doctors help survivors (5:30 min)
3. People said "Let's kill this Muslim woman" (5:40 min)
Thousands from Muzaffarnagar fled to Loni and areas bordering Delhi
following the communal riots that broke out on 8 September 2013.
Newsclick spoke to some of the riot victims staying at a makeshift
relief camp.

4.45 pm
School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
from REMEMBERING 1992 series

India I 2013
A series first screened in its entirety in various Mumbai colleges and
other spaces as part of the Bombay ki Kahani, Mumbai ki Zubani
campaign that commemorated 20 years since the communal riots of
1992-93.

Nithila Kanagasabai, Archana Sadar, Nitya Menon, Likokba Sangtam
BADALTE NAKSHE (Changing Maps)
24 min I Hindi, English
The film follows Farhana Ashraf, a teacher and a writer, as it engages
with certain questions: 20 years later, how do those who were children
then remember the lived experience of the riots? And how do today’s
young people make meaning of these inherited narratives of violence?

5.10 pm to 6 pm Discussion interspersed with screening of excerpts
from Rakesh Sharma’s film FINAL SOLUTION

6 pm: Break (10 min)
6.10 pm
HAMARE GHAR I Kislay
India I 31 mins I 2013 I short fiction
Kamla works as a full-time maid in Raj and Simran’s house. In this
‘modern’ home, there is no obvious violence or hierarchy, but when it
comes to Pihu, Kamla’s younger sister, the underlying tensions become
less easy to overlook.

6.40 pm: Brief discussion about employers’ attitudes; rights of
domestic work(ers) and related issues

6.50 pm
NYONYA'S TASTE OF LIFE | Wen Chi-Yi
Taiwan | 78 min | 2007 | feature fiction
Stories of Indonesian domestic helpers and Thai workers who come to
work in Taiwan dreaming of a better life.

SUN 16 MARCH

Programme for Day 4 (morning) from 11 am to 1 pm

11 am
MY NO-MERCY HOME | Aori
South Korea | 77 min | 2013 | documentary
The courageous story of a young woman who sues her father for sexual abuse.

12.20 pm to 1 pm: Discussion on the film, and on Child Sexual Abuse,
with Dr Nandita DeSouza

1 pm to 3 pm: Lunch break

Programme for Day 4 (afternoon) from 3 pm to 5.15 pm

3 pm
GAON CHHODAB NAHIN I K P Sasi
India I 5:30 min I 2009 I music video
This voice of assertion that echoes throughout the music video that
captures the marginalisation of adivasis all over India and forces us
to ask: In whose favour does the God of Development work, and whom
does it curse? A tribal song of resistance, which has become a
celebrated anthem.

DHINKI I Surya Shankar Dash
India I 3:35 min I 2013
The secret of the anti-POSCO movement in Jagatsinghpur.

SHOT DEAD FOR DEVELOPMENT I Surya Shankar Dash
India I 1 min I 2013 I animation
An animation in Idital (Saora adivasi art), set to a Koya and Bondi
adivasi song, depicting the lives and anti-mining struggles of
adivasis in Odisha. The artist Sarasi pays tribute to the men, women
and children who have been shot dead by the police since 2001 for
resisting mining and industrial activities.

3.15 pm

RADIATION STORIES PART 3: KOODANKULAM I Amudhan RP
India I 80 min I 2012
The story of the people’s movement against the Koodankulam nuclear
plant. The movement gained momentum when inland farmers, workers,
small traders and salaried people joined the poor local fishing
community in their indigenous, independent, non-violent and democratic
struggle.

4.30 pm –5.15 pm: Discussion about anti-mining movement in Goa and
other people’s movements, with Ramesh Gauns

5.15 pm Break (15 min)

Day 4 (evening) from 5.35 pm to 8 pm

5.30 pm
TRUELOVESTORY | Gitanjali Rao
India | 20 min | animation
Where does Salim, a 17 year old orphan living on the streets of
Bombay, learn to woo a woman? The film is a glimpse into the influence
of Bollywood on real life.

5.50 pm
SUCH A GIRL LIKE ME | Man Uen Ching
Hong Kong | 15 min | 2012 | short fiction
Yin is a mortician who does make-up for the dead. She hides this fact
from her boy friend out of shame.

6.05 pm: Discussion about the two previous films

6.15 pm
20 FINGERS I Mania Akbari
Iran-UK I 73 min I 2004 I fiction feature
This film explores some of the issues of men and women living within
the confines of tradition and family life in Iran. Each episode has a
man-woman couple in different life situations. The film deals with the
dependencies, limitations, power struggles and conflicts that are the
familiar stuff of life.

7.30 pm–8 pm: Discussion about the film with Shaila DeSouza; wrap up
of the 4-day festival

More details:
Smriti Nevatia smritinevatia at gmail.com