2006-2011 / Kriti Film Club Screenings Archive

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Kriti Film Club Screenings Archive 2006-2011
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2006

  • Films at college campuses (19th January 2006 at School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi)
    • Fight for Survival by Dakxin Nandlal Bajarange is about the Madari community in Gujarat. For their survival, they depend on their traditional business of snake exhibition and performance in villages and cities, fairs and haats. Due to recent laws around animal cruelty and animal rights, the entire Madari community is facing a problem of survival. 
    • Manhole Workers Union by Rappai Poothokaren is about those who work below the manhole, invisible. With the haphazard ways our gutter system has built, Ahmedabad may have to be evacuated if the manhole stopped to work! Yet they get a very raw deal. KSSM (Kamdar Swasthya Surakhsa Mandal) have helped these workers to form the Manhole Kamdar Union, which has enhanced their self – respect and self – confidence. 
  • Best of Jeevika South Asian Livelihood Documentary Festival 2005 (28th January 2006 at Kriti Film Club homespace)
    • One Show Less…by Nayantara. C. Kotian is the first prize winning documentary of the Jeevika Festival 2005. This student production concerns itself with the increasing numbers of single screen cinemas that are shutting down, all over the country. 
    • Pretty Dyana…by Boris Mitic is an intimate look at gypsy refugees in a Belgrade suburb who make a living by transforming Citroen’s classic 2cv and Dyana cars into Mad-Max-like recycling vehicles, which they use to collect cardboard, bottles and scrap metal. Screened as a prize winning entry from the 2005 Jeevika Festival. (28th January 2006)
  • Crossing the Lines - Kashmir, India and Pakistan…by Pervez Hoodbhoy and Zia Mian. After four wars, Kashmiris and their land are divided between Pakistan and India, the source of recurring crises. This path-breaking independent documentary film, made in Pakistan, challenges us to look at Kashmir with new eyes and to hope for a new way forward. (17th March 2006 at Kriti Film Club homespace)
  • ‘Adha Asman (Half the Sky)’…by Samina Misra is about women who spend their days working in the fields, cutting grass, tending cattle, supporting their families. Shot in Almora and Sitapur districts in Uttar Pradesh, this is a film about the attitudes that deny women their share of healthcare. (7th April, 2006 at Vasant Valley School)
  • ‘Untitled: 3 Short Films’…by Kavita Joshi is a film on Women and Conflict in Manipur. July 2004: 12 women protest naked on the streets of Imphal. A mother laments the extra-judicial killing of her teenage son. For 5 years now, a young woman has been on a fast-unto-death. What fuels the anger and anguish of these women? This film travels to this far-flung, violence-torn corner of India to seek out stories of uncommon courage in the face of despair. ‘Some Roots Grow Upwards’ …also by Kavita Joshi is about the theatre of Ratan Thiyam in his home state, Manipur. (19th May 2006 at Kriti Film Club homespace)
  • ‘Supersize Me’….by Morgan Spurlock is about why Americans are so fat…two words: Fast Food (courtesy MacDonalds burgers and fries). What would happen if you ate nothing but 'fast food' for an entire month? (30th June 2006 at Kriti Film Club homespace)
  • 'Where do I go from here? by Yasmin Kidwai is about ageing through the eyes of the elderly. A film that provides a glimpse on what it means to be old and alone in urban India? (15th July 2006 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Film maker present)
  • Heda Hoda (Blind Camel) by Vinod Ganatra is made for Children's Film Society, India. Dhrang is a sleepy village in north-western arid area in Kutch - a district of Gujarat. Valji and Dhanbai, with two children, Sonu and Lakhmi live in this village. One day Valji is indisposed. Sonu volunteers to take out the camels for grazing and Lakhmi joins him. (26th August 2006)
  • 'Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi' by Saba Dewan shot in the backdrop of the Maharashtra Governments’ controversial move to ban girls from dancing in beer bars, interweaves stories of gender, labour, sexuality and popular culture within an increasingly globalized economy. (16th Sept. 2006 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Film maker present)

2007

  • 'A Night of Prophecy'… by Amar Kanwar  is a film about poetry and song, poets and singers. The film travels in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir – all complex territories that have been home to severe conflicts, where minds are taught to absorb bloodshed and oppression. (20th January 2007 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Film maker present)
  • 'New Delhi Pvt. Ltd.' produced by Hazards Centre and directed by Ravinder Randhawa is an attempt to capture the city of Delhi as it gets systematically refashioned to become a ‘word-class’ space, a productive site for the neo-liberal regime. But as this space gets ‘taken over’, it has to be thoroughly and urgently purged of all that is unprofitable and undesirable, manifest in the systematic destruction of the lives of the very people who toil to build and service the city. (17th February 2007 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Producer representative present)
  • 'Exploring Madness' by Pervez Imam is about mental illnesses which is one of the least understood problems in India. Myths and stigma add to the problems of people suffering from such illnesses. On the other hand there are issues of a lack of infrastructure to treat mental illnesses properly. This film brings together a variety of such issues related to mental illness in the Indian society. (17th March 2007 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Film maker present)
  • 'Grassroot Realities' is about village women in remote parts who have become health volunteers for their own communities inspite of all odds. (17th March 2007 at Kriti Film Club homespace))
  • 'Story of a Golden River' …by Saumitra Dastidar. The synopsis of this film reads as follows: I’d like to tell you the story of a fairyland. A story just as long as my hand. Subansiri, the golden river flows down from the hills of Arunachal Pradesh into the Assam valley, into the Brahmaputra. There is a legend behind the name Subansiri. It is believed that the waters of the river once carried gold that was shifted by the people living downstream. There are no more gold sediments here but there is a vast resource of power. The north-eastern part of India houses nearly 31 such rivers. (2nd June 2007 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Film maker present)
  • 'Maribu pache Daribu nahi' (Die we may, we are not afraid!)… by Rashid Ali is an exploration trying to find 'modern' and 'primitive' people engaging or disengaging with 'modern' or 'primitive' accumulation practice of global capital. The film journeys through the history of TATAs negotiating with colonial or postcolonial state with a scriptural or addicted justification drawn from the ancient regimes of Kautiliya and Ashoka (invasion of Kalinga). (30th June 2007 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Film maker present)
  • 'SheWrite' …by Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayashankar weaves together the narratives and work of four young Tamil women poets - Salma, Kuttirevathi, Malathy Maitri and Sukirtharani. (14th July, 2007 at Kriti Film Club homespace)
  • 'Crossing the Line'…by Anita Brar, is about the people who have seen the bloodshed of 1947’s India-Pakistan divide. The film focuses on those people who had crossed over the India-Pakistan border against their wishes in the wake of partition, and are now living in Australia.  (17th August, 2007 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Film maker present)
  • 'Seruppu (Footwear)…by Amudhan R P.  is about the life of the Catholic Arundhatiyars of Dharmanathapuram, who traditionally make footwear, in the face of caste discrimination and growing competition from the footwear industry (7th September 2007 at Dr K. R. Narayanan Center for Dalit and Minority Center, Jamia Milia Islamia University and Lady Shri Ram College - Film maker present)
  • 'Nowhere to Run'… produced by Human Right Law Network (HRLN) is a short film based on the experience of two lawyers from HRLN, New Delhi who visited Mizoram in December 2003. The team found themselves in a situation where, following the rape of a young Mizo girl on July 17, 2003, the Young Mizo Association and a host of other organizations together with the police began the forced deportation of “foreigners”. The film is an insight into the lives of refugees who suffer disease, violence, alienation and several other threats. (15th September 2007 at Kriti Film Club homespace)
  • 'Peace Day Week screenings' of 40 films (19-24th Sept. at India Habitat Centre (IHC) and at Jawaharlal Nehru University during the World Bank Tribunal (22-23d Sept. 2007) {listing available on request}
  • 'Baby Haldar'…by Anu Menon is on the life of a domestic worker from Gurgaon who was inspired to write her life story by her employer and has published her first book in Bengali, Hindi and English. Baby Haldar works for Prabodh Kumar, who encouraged her to write about her life. The resulting book, "A Life Less Ordinary," is both a critical and commercial success. (27th Dec. 2007 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Protagonist present)

2008

  • 'Dakhal (Reclaimed)'…by Deepak Roy is about forest rights. Historically, the Forest People are at best perceived as sub-humans to be kept in isolation, or as 'primitives' living in remote and backward regions who should be "civilised". Contrast this with the self-perception of Forest dwellers as casteless, classless and egalitarian in nature, community-based economic systems, symbiotic with nature, democratic according to the demands of the times, accommodative history and people-oriented art and literature. (12th Jan 2008 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Film maker present)
  • 'The Lightning Testimonies'...by Amar Kanwar reflects upon a history of conflict in the Indian subcontinent through experiences of sexual violence. As the film explores this violence, there emerge multiple submerged narratives, sometimes in people, images and memories, and at other times in objects from nature and everyday life that stand as silent but surviving witnesses. In all narratives the body becomes central - as a site for honour, hatred and humiliation and also for dignity and protest. (23rd Feb 2008 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Film maker present)
  • 'Bullets and Butterflies' by Sushmit Ghosh traces the journey of a handicapped street child and a biking enthusiast on a motorcycle - popularly known as a Bullet - as they travel from the bustling cityscape of Delhi to the serene hills of Himachal Pradesh. (15th March 2008 at Kriti Film Club homespace - Film maker present)
  • Climate Change Films at a college (25th March 2008 at School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi)
    • Global warming - a fable from the Himalayas by Nitin Das is an eight minute film shot near Tibet. It is a magical tale about a young boy who finds the solution to Global Warming from a monk in the mountains. The entire cast of the film is from Kaaza, a small town in Spiti Valley. The film was made possible by Spitiecosphere, an NGO based out of Spiti. 
    • Climate Change – an Untold Story is a series of four films, winners of the UK Environment Fellowships - Climate’s First Orphans by Nila Madhab Panda tells the story of 20,000 homeless villagers in the coastal districts of Orissa, as the global debate on climate change heats up, whose existence has been wiped out by the rising sea level. The Weeping Apple Tree by Vijay S. Jodhaillustrates the complex issue of climate change by focusing on the shifting apple-growing belt in Himachal Pradesh. A Degree of Concern by Syed Fayaz looks at the implications of climate change on glaciers, and how artificial glaciers are improving the water supply of Ladakh for now. A Green Agony by Geeta Singh explores the unique ecosystem of the Sunderbans and analyses the impact of global climate change on this Indian coastal zone. 
    • Tiger- the death chronicles by Krishnenu Bose brutally and honestly assesses, for the first time, the tiger's future in India.
  • Waters of Despair by Srijan is a reflection of the year 2007, which witnessed one of the worst floods in the contemporary history of Bihar. The floods had affected 245 lakh people of which nearly 48 lakh people were in dire need of immediate assistance. The film touches a wide range of issues and critically evaluates the disaster preparedness and mangement vis-à-vis frequent floods in Bihar. (19th April 2008)
  • Celebrating Life amidst Struggle...solidarity screenings with protesting victims/ survivors of Bhopal Gas Tragedy and marking the Chernobyl disaster anniversary (23-26 April 2008 @Jantar Mantar, New Delhi) - 
    • Tu Zinda Hai (You are alive) by Drishti Media Collective & PRIA reflects on changing identities and self perceptions of women activists who have stepped out of traditional female role models and are paving new paths on the road towards women's empowerment. (23.4); 
    • Right to Information music video by Vinay and Charul (23.4); 
    • When Women Unite: The Story of an Uprising by Shabnam Virmani is an account of true events derived from the testimonies of women of 22 villages in Nellore district as part of the anti-liquor movement. (24.4); 
    • Heda Hoda by Vinod Ganatra is about a child's perspective on peace across borders. (25.4); 
    • Chernobyl the invisible thief by Christoph Boekel. This film is a flashback to the day a nightmare scenario became horrific reality: the day reactor block 4 of the Chernobyl atomic power station exploded. Very little information about the true extent of the radioactive contamination managed to find its way out to the public. Filmmaker Christoph Boekel spent many years living and working in the Russian Federation. While researching and filming this project he met numerous victims of the atomic catastrophe. His own wife was one of them and she too, died of cancer. This film is a requiem for the often forgotten victims of the disaster and a caveat against putting blind trust in technological advancement. (26.4)
  • Child Birth Film Festival (29th -30th April 2008 at India Habitat Centre (IHC), New Delhi)
    • Birth in the Squatting Position by MoysA(C)s and Claudio Paciornik; 
    • The Business of Being Born by Abby Epstein; 
    • Birth Day by Naoli Vinaver; 
    • Born at Home by Sameera Jain
  • Baarah Mann Ki Dhuban by Vrinda Kapoor & Nitesh Bhatia revolves around the bioscope as a means of livelihood in Delhi and the prevailing conditions of the community of bioscope workers. It also tells a brief history of bioscope and that it was the first form of moving pictures in India. (21st June 2008 at Kriti Team Workspace, Tara Apartments, New Delhi)
  • New Delhi Pvt. Ltd. by Ravinder S Randhawa is an attempt to capture the city of Delhi as it gets systematically refashioned to become a world class space, a productive site of neo-liberal regime. (21st June 2008 at Kriti Team Workspace, Tara Apartments, New Delhi).
  • A Deal for Life and Freedom Film Festival (9th August 2008 at WWF Auditorium, New Delhi) Ek Khubsurat Jahaz by Gauhar Raza; Why Are Nuclear Weapons Important? by Miranda Haley; America America by K.P. Sasi; Hiroshima by Paul Wilmshurst & George Anton; Ribbons for Peace by Anand Patwardhan; New State; Old problems by Ajay TG; Anjam by Ajay TG; The Other Side of the Mirror by Ajay TG; The Face by Amar Kanwar; Military Rule, People's Aspirations and Human Rights in Burma; Bullets and Butterflies by Sushmit Ghosh; Shot Dead for Development by Sarasi Das & Surya Shankar Dash; The Lament of Niyamraja - a dongria kond song by Surya Shankar Dash; Niyamgiri-The Mountain of Law by Samadrusti TV and Surya Shankar Dash; Chengara: slums to agri-land by Samkutty Pattomkary.
  • Niyamgiri, Mountain of Law by Samadrusti TV and Surya Shankar Dash captures the natural preserve, the interdependence between people & nature, wrath of Vedanta refinery, peoples' resistance all weaved together to present a comprehensive view of the issue, case and reality. (September 2008 at the Faculty of Political Science (FPS), Delhi University) 
  • Punches n Ponytails, a film on women boxing in India by Pankaj Rishi Kumar is a journey into the sweet science of boxing being practiced by two Indian women. Using cinema verité style and shot over a period of two and half years, the film articulates the boxer's concerns and share experiences and ideas about their future. (September 2008 at the Kriti workplace, Tara apartments, New Delhi). 
  • Tales from the Margins by Kavita Joshi travels to aforgotten, strife-torn corner of India to document the extraordinary protests of Manipuri women as they fight for justice for their people. (September 2008 at the FPS, Delhi University).
  • Flying Inside My Body by Ajeeta, Sumit, Rintu and Sushmit explores how the form of the body can become a powerful physical language to express dissent over societal norms and conventions. The film is a journey with veteran photographer Sunil Gupta, who has used his art to challenge the stereotypes that define one's body, sexuality and identity. The film's lyrical style marries still photography with moving images and text, to unfold an intensely personal narrative that questions the deeply engrained prejudices that we all carry within ourselves. (20th December 2008 at Kriti Team workspace, Tara Apartments, New Delhi) 

2009 

  • Parindey by Sohaila Kapur is the story of a woman who is serving a life term for murdering her husband. The story begins at a point when her young daughter, a minor at the time of the murder, visits her mother after 14 years to ask her why she killed her father. A film that unfolds a confrontation between the mother and the daughter; the relationship between the jailor woman and the prisoner woman, ending with a catharsis for all three women! The film is based on the true story of a Tihar inmate who is still serving her sentence. (7th March 2009 at Kriti team workplace, Tara Aptts, New Delhi). 
  • Lightning Testimonies by Amar Kanwar reflects upon a history of conflict in the Indian subcontinent through the experiences of sexual violence. As the film explores this violence, there emerge multiple submerged narratives, sometimes in people, images and memories and at other times in objects from nature and everyday life that stand as silent but surviving witnesses. (9th March 2009 at YMCA, New Delhi).
  • I was a teenage feminist by Therese Schechter is a funny, moving and personal journey into the heart of feminism on the threshold of the 21st century. The film recently won the Best Film at the Jewish Women’s Film Festival and was given a special mention at the Karachi Film Festival in Pakistan (24th March 2009 at The American Center, New Delhi). 
  • Crossing Thresholds by Sonika Jain is an investigation into documentary representation and institution of marriage. In filming three women participants and their male partners across temporal and spatial zones, the film offers diversity of experiences in love-cum-arranged marriage. This cinematic representation acts as a critique of the problematic representation of Indian women, gender relations, and Indian marriages particularly love-cum-arranged marriage in mainstream Hindi and British cinema and instead provides an alternative amidst under-representation in Hindi 'alternative' cinema and Indian and Western documentary cinema. (28th March 2009 at Kriti team workplace, Tara Aptts, New Delhi). 
  • The 11th Hour by Nadia Connors and Leila Conners Peterson and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, this captivating documentary explores the perilous state of our planet, and the means by which we can change our course. Contributing to this crucial film are noted politicians, scientists and other ambassadors for the importance of a universal ecological consciousness.(22nd April 2009 at The American Center, New Delhi).
  • Kosi Katha by Jharna Anurag Singh is a film on the Kosi floods. It tells the story of people, livestock, land and homes devastated. Minimising losses is a subject in itself but accountability of maintaining the structures is a crucial point to avoid disasters like the one that happened in Aug ’08. It is a very complex question and an even more complex story of human failing. (3rd June 2009 at The American Center, New Delhi; 12th July 2009 at Constitution Club, New Delhi). 
  • The Bicycle is not Far by Subrata Chakrabarty talks about fair trade practices around organic cotton farming in India. Shot over a period of eight months in different parts of India (in the state of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal) and partly also in Paris, France to depict the existence of market rationality, fairtrade certification, increasing fair trade movement, participatory guarantee system (PGS) etc. (18th July 2009 at Kriti Team workspace, Tara Apartments, New Delhi.
  • A Deal for Life and Freedom screenings (August 2009)

@Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi (19 August 2009) 

    • Dam'aged' by Subrat Kumar Sahu is a film that travels to the Upper Indrāvati Hydropower Project in Kalahandi district of Orissa, questioning popular notions of development, as it experiences how a ‘sustainable economy of inclusive prosperity’ has been turned into the ‘farcical sport of growth statistics’. 

@Lady Shri Ram College for Women (3-4 September 2009), University of Delhi 

    • Tales from the Margins (Kavita Joshi/ 23 mins/ Manipuri with English subtitles)
    • Military rule, people’s aspirations and human rights in Burma (30 mins/ English)
    • New State; Old problems (Ajay TG/ 10mins 43sec / English narration)
    • In the forest hangs a bridge (Sanjay Kak/ 40 mins/ English)
    • From Kalinganagar to Kashipur (Biju Toppo and Meghnath/ 24 mins/ English)
    • Gaon Chohab Nahin - music video (K.P.Sasi/ 8 mins/Hindi)
  • Peace Reels (22 September 2009/ IHC, New Delhi) 
    • The Lament of Niyamraja by Surya Shankar Dash is a short film of a Dongria Kond song captures with the sounds of music, some moments from the hills of Niyamgiri in Orissa which is yet to be lost to the attempts of Vedanta, an aluminium company wanting to undertake mining here! 
    • Gaon Chhodab Nahin by K P Sasi is a movement music video depicts the lives and times of adivasi and dalits populations and their struggles against the development projects and corporates induced displacement. 
    • Dam'aged' by Subrat Kumar Sahu is a film that travels to the Upper Indrāvati Hydropower Project in Kalahandi district of Orissa, questioning popular notions of development, as it experiences how a ‘sustainable economy of inclusive prosperity’ has been turned into the ‘farcical sport of growth statistics’. 
  • Two Special Films (24th October 2009/ Kriti Film Club homespace) 
    • Energy Efficiency Future Conservation - A light burns by Mariam Chandy reflects deep within the coal belt of India, in a remote village in Jharkhand, torn by naxal violence, two enterprising youngsters struggle to generate electricity for their village using the oil of an indigenous plant in "A light burns"; Building a green future now by Sashi Shivara-makrishnan shows the efforts towards energy conservation in our built environment, both residential and at the workplace; In their elements by Inder Kathuria records how the solar- wind hybrid system is bringing about happy changes in two remote mountain villages of Lahaul-Spiti and how it can help change lives all along the higher Himalayas. The future beneath our feet by Praveen Singh explores the yet untapped Geothermal Energy resources of the country. 
    • Preserve the Future – Conserving India's Wild Heritage  - City Farming captures this process of Dr. R.T. Doshi Science of city farming; Vernacular Values by R.L. Kumar reflects on his attempts to build houses differently with a passion for the earth and the people he is working with; Landscape for Rainwater is based on a huge and beautiful archaeological site in Hampi, Karnataka, shows ruins of tanks, water channels and aqueducts, and how Indian people succeeded in using a passive and complex system so that rainwater was sufficient for all their water needs. A Farm Garden in a Dryland of Tamil Nadu by Mohan S. Rao, shows how to conserve and reuse rainwater as much as possible with sensitive and sustainable methods.

2010 

  • American Documentary Showcase (19-20 February 2010)
    • Children In No Man's Land by Anayansi Prado follows the plight of unaccompanied minors who travel into the United States. Two young cousins attempt to cross the US/Mexico border alone to reunite with their mothers in the Midwest.
    • The Betrayal by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath, filmed over 23 years, tells the story of a family's epic journey from war-torn Laos to the mean streets of New York. Thavisouk Phrasavath tells his own story of struggling as a young man to survive both the war and the hardships of immigrant life, as well as his mother's astonishing tale of perseverance.
    • The Hobart Shakespeareans by Mel Stuart reflects on how year after year, the Hobart Shakespeareans excel. They read passionately, far above their grade level; tackle algebra, and stage Shakespeare so professionally that they often wow actor Sir Ian Mckellen. This takes place at a large Los Angeles public elementary school. Few of the children at Hobart Elementary School speak English as a first language and many are from poor or troubled families.
    • Beginning Filmmaking by Jay Rosenblatt is a portrait of a very young artist and an enthusiastic father who discovers truth in the clich "creative differences" when he attempts to teach his 4-year-old daughter about filmmaking. Ella learns what she wants to, discards what she doesn't, and is determined to be a star in her own mind. 
    • Autism, The Musical by Patricia Regan follows five autistic children and their families over the course of six months and captures their distinct personal struggles, pressures and triumphs as the children write, rehearse and perform their own full-length musical. 
    • The Garden by Scott Hamilton Kennedy follows the plight of mostly immigrant farmers from the tilled soil of the United States' largest urban farm to Los Angeles City Hall, telling the story of back room deals, land developers, green politics, poverty, power and racial discord as the farmers organize and speak out while bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis. 
  • Aarohan: A Climate Change Story is about Kajri is a young Dalit (low caste) Sarpanch of Manihari Gram Panchayat. Dedicated and committed to her new position as a leader of her local self government (Gram Panchayat), she struggles to deal with issues of hunger, poverty and famine in her Panchayat. Things come to head when Darshan, a young unemployed Dalit male is forced to steal from the landlord’s mansion in order to feed his children. Kajri looks deep into the reasons for chronic hunger in her village and links it to the changing climatic conditions and environmental degradation. As the Sarpanch, she feels duty bound to find a solution to these problems. Help comes to Kajri from unexpected quarters. (March 8, 2010 at India Islamic Cultural Centre, New Delhi) 
  • The Groundwater Up Project by Tarini Manchanda, Katie Gillett, and Moriah Mason is an upbeat (and slightly off beat) documentary film which introduces you to Dolly, who has to be resourceful for water; Deya, who says that even posh colonies don’t get a decent supply of water in Delhi; and Maya, who is embarrassed to go fetch the water she needs for her daily life. (26.4. at Vasant Valley School; 29.4. at India Habitat Centre (IHC); 30.4 at India International Center (IIC), New Delhi; 20.6. at Apparel House, Gurgaon).
  • Childbirth Film festival 2010 (18-19 April 2010 at IHC, New Delhi)
    • The Business Of Being Born by Abby Epstein highlights that the key in every birth is a commitment to doing what's best for mother and baby. However, hospitals and doctors often too quickly advocate medical intervention in the interest of saving time and avoiding potential litigation. While unquestionably advocating midwifery over hospital birthing, this documentary explores expert opinions, and anecdotal experiences of both mothers and midwives that are crucial in making an informed decision about the use of midwifery in birthing. 
    • Birth As We Know It by Elena Tonetti-Vladimirova reflects that the way we procreate defines our ability to thrive. It's a matter of utmost urgency as everyday babies are born into unnecessary suffering, with easily avoidable, harmful complications, which limbically imprint their nervous system with suffering as the 'norm' and diminishes their capacity for intimacy and kindness. The documentary shows an alternative: it shows women who approached the art of people-making consciously and with dignity.
  • An activist and his films: Remembering Saratchandran (8 May 2010 at various venues across the country, in collaboration with Delhi Film Archive)
    • The Bitter Drink by C. Saratchandran documents the formative days of a David and Goliath battle. The people of Plachimada (in Kerala), a majority of them tribals, launched a struggle against one of the most powerful corporations in the world - the Coca Cola Company.(8th May 2010 at various venues across the country). 
    • To die for land – the ultimate sacrifice by C. Saratchandran captures the dalit-adivasi land reclamation struggle in Chengara, Kerala. Located in Pathanamthitta district, Chengara is witness to the occupation, by some 5000 dalit-adivasi families, of over 2000 acres of land illegally claimed by the Harrison Malayalam Company Ltd. For the people who took over this commercial rubber plantation, the occupation is a defiant way to highlight their situation - over the years, plantation companies in collusion with state agencies have ensured that dalits and adivasis are now alienated from their ancestral homes. 
  • Had Anhad - Bounded Boundless, Journeys with Ram and Kabir by Shabnam Virmani talks about Kabir who was a 15th century mystic poet of north India who defied the boundaries between Hindus and Muslims. This film journeys through song and poem into the politics of religion, and finds a myriad answers on both sides of the hostile border between India and Pakistan. (18th September 2010 at Kriti Film Club homespace) 
  • The Conflict: Whose Loss? Whose Gain? by Debaranjan Sarangi explores the brutal violence in Kandhamal of August 2008. It also examines the loss of lands and livelihoods faced by Kandhas and the fierce resistance over 15 years to the mining of bauxite by large private mining companies in Kashipur. (3rd November 2010, India International Center (IIC), New Delhi).

2011

  • Learning in Exile by Aprajita Sarcar talks about how Tibet is a way of living. A civilization with an expiry date. Fifty years of exile has also produced a culture, coloured by its context, India. The exile life has seen a set of learning’s for the guest and the host. So, the central theme is how a Tibetan negotiates with this loss in the realm of the everyday, routine life. The Dalai Lama becomes a metaphor, to delve deeper into this existential crises. (16th April 2011 at Kriti Film Club homespace) 
  • ecoReels...celebrating Environment Day Month (7, 14, 20 June 2011 at Apparel House, Gurgaon)
    • Global Warming - A Fable From The Himalayas by Nitin Das, shot near Tibet, is a magical tale about a young boy close who finds the solution to Global Warming from a monk in the mountains. 
    • The Jungle Gang Meets The Rhino by Krishnendu Bose is the first Indian wildlife film made exclusively for children. The film has three animated wild animal characters--Bar Headed Geese, Slender Loris and a Black Buck--three animals, that bring the flavour of three different habitats of India. They travel together to the Kaziranga National Park to know more about the Great Indian Rhinoceros, its habitat, threats and the conservation efforts which have saved it from extinction.
    • A Dam Old Story by Tarini Manchanda highlights that 4711 big dams are built and 390 are under construction in growing India, while more than 40 million people have been displaced by such development. 
    • Mean Sea Level by Pradip Saha takes us through the story of the inhabitants of the islands of Ghoramara and Sagar, at the southern tip of the Indo-Gangetic Delta. Almost 7000 inhabitants have been forced to leave Ghoramara in the last 30 years, as the island has become half in size. Rising Sea level, 2mm a year is resulting in daily insecurity for home and livelihoods. Experience this new breed of climate refugees. 
    • The Miracle Water Village by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh is an inspirational story of an impoverished farming community in India that reversed its fortunes through its visionary model of water management. 
  • Peace Reels...celebrating International Peace Day (20 September 2011 at IHC, New Delhi) 
    • Dreaming Taj Mahal by Nirmal Chander and Short Films by Surya Shankar Dash
  • MindReels…films on mental health: an event to mark the World Mental Health Week (3, 8-10 October 2011 at IHC, New Delhi)
    • There Is Something In The Air by Iram Gurfam is a series of dream narratives, and accounts of spiritual possession as experienced by women ‘petitioners’ at the shrine of a Sufi saint in north India. (Film maker present)
    • Eyes of Stone by Nilita Vachani is a film about rural women in Bhilwara, Rajasthan and their rituals of possession and exorcism: expressions of faith, rebellion and healing that thrive within the confines of a stringent patriarchal order. 
    • Avinash Grows Up by Kareem Khan is a very short message video on mental illness.
    • Exploring Madness by Dr Pervez Imam is a film in six parts, that brings together a variety of issues related to mental illness in the Indian society. (Film maker present)
    • The Unreal Reality by Syed Amjad Ali is an engaging and informative documentary that captures and demonstrates the difficulties related to Schizophrenia.
    • A Drop of Sunshine by Aparna Sanyal takes us through the story of Reshma Valliappan, a 30-year old Indian woman, and charts out her journey of eventual triumph over her Schizophrenia. (Film maker present)
    • Into the Abyss by Vandana Kohli is a look at the growing incidence of depression in Delhi including dramatised sequences of a 24 year old management executive's state of mind, even as the disorder begins to set in. (Film maker present)
    • A Certain Liberation by Yasmine Kabir is about Gurudasi Mondol who gave herself up to madness in 1971, during the Liberation War of Bangladesh, as she watched her entire family being killed by the collaborators of the occupying forces.
    and KRITI FILM CLUB screenings and conversations continue...                                 2012-17           2018-22           2023-24

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