THE FILM: "Aamakaar" (The Turtle People)
INDIA / 2002 / 76 MIN / MALAYALAM-ENGLISH
Camera: Setu, Sudheer Palsane
Editing: Sujata Narula
Sound: Suresh Rajamani
Music: Rajivan S.S.
Producer: Sunil Shanbag
Directed by: Surabhi Sharma

SYNOPSIS: "We have to keep fighting for our existence - like a baby turtle has to keep flapping its flippers." "Aamakaar" tells the story of preservation. People from a village in North Kerala fight to preserve their village, their shore, and their livelihoods, threatened by sand mining on their estuary. For the last 10 years they have been conserving Olive Ridley Turtles that come to their beach to rest. They see the preservation of a species on a verge of extinction as an extension of their fight against the destruction of their estuary, their village, and their lives. The film follows the rhythm of work in the village to unfold this struggle for existence of a species, of a people.

THE FILMMAKER: Surabhi Sharma graduated in Film Direction from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune in 1997. Earlier, she had graduated in Psychology and Anthropology from St.Xavier's College, Mumbai in 1991 and completed a diploma in social communication media from the Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai in 1992. Her previous documentary, "Jari Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories" won the Best Documentary Award at the 2 nd KaraFilm Festival last year. It has also won the Special Jury Award at the Three Continents Festival of Film in Argentina (2002), the Third Best Film in Film South Asia, Nepal (2001) and has been shown at a number of other festivals.

THE FILM: "Aftershocks : The Rough Guide to Democracy"
INDIA / 2002 / 64 MIN / KUTCHI-GUJARATI-HINDI-ENGLISH
Camera: Tanmay Agarwal
Editing: Rakesh Sharma, Sunita Dighe
Sound: Rakesh Sharma, Sreekumar S
Script & Research: Rakesh Sharma
Narrated, Produced and Directed by: Rakesh Sharma

SYNOPSIS: "Aftershocks" is about the transformation of the Welfare State into an instrument of corporate governance. It examines the acquisition/displacement of two quake-affected villages for lignite mining and power generation. It probes the microcosm in the nature of study "from below" of globalization of Economy and corporatization of Democracy . The film is set in Kutch - in two villages - one comprising low-cast Rabaris and the other comprising upper-cast Durbars. The villages, almost totally destroyed by the January 2001 earthquake, became takeover targets even as they waited for relief and rehabilitation.

THE FILMMAKER: Rakesh began his film/television career as an assistant director on Shyam Benegal's "Discovery of India." His broadcast industry experience includes the set up/launch of 3 channels: Channel [V], Star Plus and Vijay TV (Tamil). His other assignments include: Doordarshan (Consultant - broadcast ops/on-air presentation), TV Today (Executive Producer, Poll '98, Live election results and analysis show), Zee Gold , USA (on-air presentation) and as project consultant for several companies including UTV and Nimbus. "Aftershocks" is his first feature-length film.

THE FILM: “Becoming Muslim: Submitting to Allah in America”
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / 2003 / 84 MIN / ENGLISH
Editing: Bert Museta
Sound Engineers: Fowzy Butt, Nadir Naqvi
Soundtrack: Gokcen Ergene, Tim McCarthy, Nadir Naqvi, Fowzy Butt
Written and Produced By: Maherin Gangat, Sameer Butt
Directed by: Sameer Butt

SYNOPSIS: Thirty percent of America’s roughly seven million Muslims are converts to the faith. In spite of the impression most Americans have of Islam and Muslims, conversions are reportedly on the rise. This documentary takes a critical look at Islam in America and the phenomenon of Americans who convert to Islam.

THE FILMMAKER: Sameer has extensive experience in film and television, having worked as an actor, writer, stand-up comedian, director and producer on a variety of projects. He co-wrote and co-produced a half-hour news special for VH1 entitled “Islamabad: Rock city” in the wake of September 11. While Director of Productions at Urban Box Office from 1999-2002, he produced and directed several documentaries including the critically acclaimed PBS special “The Bu$ine$$ of $ex in the U$A.” In 1998, he starred in the Academy Award-winning short film “Atomic Tabasco.” Sameer has been a contributor and performer on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and his work has been seen on NBC, Fox, MTV, Cinemax, HBO, A&E and Showtime. His work has been mentioned in various publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Village Voice and Newsweek. Originally trained as an architect, Sameer has also acted in several off-Broadway plays. From 1994-1998, Sameer worked as a trader and market-maker at the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange, holding membership seats at both exchanges from 1996-1998. While working as a trader and market-maker, he often appeared as a commentator on CNN.

THE FILM: “Bowling For Columbine”
USA / 2002 / 122 MIN / ENGLISH
Camera: Brian Danitz, Michael McDonough, Ed Kukla
Editing: Kurt Engfehr
Music: Jeff Gibbs
Producers: Charles Bishop, Michael Donovan
Written and Directed by: Michael Moore

SYNOPSIS: “Bowling For Columbine” takes a controversial, uncompromising look at the pathology of violence and fear in America, a country with the highest gun-murder rate in the world, where guns now outnumber voters and television sets. The film asks: Are we a gun-crazy nation – or just crazy? Do we have Charlton Heston and the NRA to blame for this? Or is it our racial problems that we have yet to resolve that cause so much killing? The right-wing says that Hollywood, Rock and Roll, and the internet are the culprits. Or, is it just that Americans are historically prone to violence? With the fallout from the tragic 1999 shooting at Columbine High School at its core, this feature-length film presents a provocative, profound and sometimes bitingly hilarious portrait of a country in the aftermath of September 11th, where happiness is a warm, constitutionally-protected, gun!

THE FILMMAKER: Michael Moore is the award-winning director of the 1989 landmark film “Roger & Me”, the story of his relentless quest to confront General Motors Chairman Roger Smith about the devastating effects that GM’s downsizing had on the town of Flint, Michigan. The highest-grossing narrative documentary of all time, “Roger & Me” appeared on over 100 critics’ Ten Best Films of the Year lists. It won the Best Documentary award from the New York Film Critics Circle and every other film critics award in America. Moore used profits from the film to establish the Center for Alternative Media, a foundation that, since its inception, has disbursed over half a million dollars in grants to independent filmmakers and social action groups. Moore’s second award-winning documentary, “The Big One”, exposed the greed and wrongdoing of big businesses and callous politicians across America and forced Nike to end its use of child labor in Indonesia . Moore also wrote and directed the comedy feature-film "Canadian Bacon" , starring the late John Candy. A one-time politician and Emmy-award winning TV producer Moore is also a bestselling author of such books as Downsize This! Random Threats from an Unarmed American , Adventures in a TV Nation , Stupid White Men and other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation , and Dude, Where's My Country? Michael Moore has also directed music videos for both REM and Rage Against the Machine and has appeared numerous times on Politically Incorrect, David Letterman and Conan O'Brien.

THE FILM: “Da Zhowand Mairman” (A Bridge Over Troubled Waters)
PAKISTAN / 2003 / 39 MIN / PASHTU
Camera: Tariq Peerzada, Samar Minallah
Editing: Tariq Peerzada
Concept and Research: Samar Minallah
Directed by: Samar Minallah

SYNOPSIS:“A Bridge Over Troubled Waters” is about an old age custom – ‘swara’ – where girls are given away to the enemy’s family in marriage as part of a peace-making arrangement between two disputing parties. The film is in effort to fight against a custom that has been considered as a vital part of Pukhtunwali (Pukhtun code of life). The documentary has been filmed in various parts of NWFP and religious points of view have also been sought in order to show that the custom has no standing in Islam.

THE FILMMAKER: Samar Minallah is an anthropologist/filmmaker with an MPhil degree in Anthropology and Development from the University of Cambridge where she studied ‘Ethnographic Filmmaking’ as a core subject. This is her first independent documentary. For the last few years she has been writing research-based articles. Some of her published work includes Pukhtun Warrior Women, Behind the Veil, A License to Kill, The Code of the Veil, and Fertility Rites Among Pukhtun Women. She has also worked as a video consultant with “Focus Asia” (Star World), the Discovery Channel and the National Geographic Channel. Being a Pukhtun herself, and a rare female filmmaker from the NWFP, she feels that through documentaries she can make a difference to the lives of women from the NWFP. The film is to be shown in all the districts of NWFP as part of an awareness raising programme regarding violence against women in NWFP.

THE FILM: “Doobti Jheelain” (Drowning the Lakes)
PAKISTAN / 2003 / 40 MIN / URDU
Camera: Shakeel Awan, Amar Mahboob Tipu
Graphics: Shakeel Awan
Written, Narrated and Directed by: Amar Mehboob Tipu

SYNOPSIS: Makhi area located in Sanghar is one of the few natural areas left in the country that is characterized by wetlands, riverine forests, agricultural lands, irrigational channels, grazing pastures and sand dunes and desert scrub, providing an ecological richness that is rare in Sindh. The lakes are also a haven for migratory and resident birds, hog deer, otters, crocodiles, jungle cats, smaller mammals and a variety of fish and reptiles. This idyllic retreat is fast under threat by the Chotiari Reservoir Project which was designed to increase the storage capacity of lakes in the Makhi area in order to increase the irrigation discharge for agriculture in Umar Kot District, further southeast of the site. At full supply level, the surface area of the lakes would increase 2.5 times, inundating 47 villages and displacing at least 6000 people, who would be forced to vacate their lands and their traditional way of life. This documentary takes a look at an ecosystem that has evolved naturally over centuries, how its inhabitants live here and how this ecosystem will be destroyed and the lives of the people shattered by the Chotiari Reservoir being constructed in the name of progress.

THE FILMMAKER: Amar Mehboob Tipu, originally an engineer, has now moved into writing and filmmaking. Amar has so far published a book of his short story writings and has been published in major Urdu literary journals. Last year Amar shot and directed two documentaries, “Health for All” about the healthcare situation in Pakistan and “Doobti Jheelain” about the environment and human disaster in the Chotiari lakes region in Sanghar, Sindh.

THE FILM: “A Few Things I Know About Her”
INDIA / 2002 / 30 MIN / ENGLISH
Camera: Mrinal Desai
Editing: Jabeen Merchant
Sound: Arun Nambiar
Narrated By: Lovleen Mishra
Producer: Films Division (Bankim & Babu Ramaswamy)
Script: Paromita Vohra
Directed by: Anjali Panjabi

SYNOPSIS: Mirabai, a 16th century bhakti poetess and Rajput princess, is a cultural icon in India. Her images and stories swamp popular culture. The conflicts expressed in her poetry, however, do not always tally with popularly held beliefs. The film explores some of these contradictions. We discover some alternate traditions of Mira and form a personal connection with the ‘rebel mystic’, who lived some 500 years ago. Fragments of history, legend and memory permeate the film. We travel from the towns and villages of Rajasthan to the vast desert, in search of Mira. The people we meet have been living with Mira in different ways and in the telling of her story, they often tell us their own. In Bhakti as in the Sufi tradition, the individual seeks an inner god who takes the form of the beloved. For many of the lower castes this identification with Bhakti & Mira’s tradition is an ‘act of resistance.’ The film is at one level a spiritual travelogue. At another level it is a social comment and a personal search. And always there is Mira singing for us in various voices.

THE FILMMAKER: Over the last eight years, Anjali Panjabi has worked on various projects in television, on documentaries and feature films as well as an associate in direction and production. She has assisted on feature films directed by Mira Nair, Kaizaad Gustaad and Mansoor Khan. “A Few Things I Know About Her” is her first film as director.

THE FILM: “Godhra Tak: The Terror Trial”
INDIA / 2003 / 64 MIN / HINDI-ENGLISH
Camera: Apal
Editing: Ajith Kumar B.
Script: Karuna M.
Produced and Directed by: Shubhradeep Chakravorty

SYNOPSIS: A reconstruction and investigation into the burning in Godhra of the train bogey of militant Hindu kar sevaks on 27 February 2002 that sparked the carnage in Indian Gujarat in which some 3,000 people died. The film follows the entire route of the first batch of kar sevaks from Gujarat to Ayodhya and back and documents the terror unleashed by them and the incidents at the Godhra railway station. With the help of a lawyer Mr Mukul Sinha, who is appearing in the Godhra inquiry commission constituted by the Gujarat government, and Dr. V. N. Shegal, former director Central Forensic Science Laboratory and member Interpol, this film tries to find out the merits of the conspiracy theory given by the prosecution and VHP alike.

THE FILMMAKER: Shubhradeep Chakravorty is a journalist and independent documentary filmmaker based in New Delhi, India. He holds a Masters Degree in Political Science and International Relations. Mr. Chakravorty began his carrier with United Newspapers Network, New Delhi, in January 1998 as a Correspondent/Sub-Editor. He subsequently worked with the English weeklies New Age and Mainstream. He has also been a correspondent for Asian News International (ANI) Door Darshan. Currently Mr. Chakravorty is running his own production house New Stream Media. “Godhra Tak: The Terror Trail” is the first documentary film produced and directed by him under this banner.

THE FILM: “Hawamahal” (Palace of the Winds)
INDIA / 2003 / 58 Min / BENGALI-HINDI-ENGLISH
Camera: Vipin Vijay
Editing: Debkamal Ganguly
Sound Design: Subhadeep Sengupta
Produced and Directed by: Vipin Vijay

SYNOPSIS: “Hawamahal,” is a film on the Holy Little Box, the Radio – simultaneously a profoundly archaic force, a bond with the past and long forgotten experience, and powerful enough to turn psyche and society into a single echo chamber. An apparatus that neutralized nationalism but also evoked archaic tribal ghosts of the most vigorous kind. This is exactly the meeting of eye and ear, of explosion and implosion – the clock of invisibility. The film looks at the narrative in terms of transformation, the change – radio to cinema, cinema to television, cycle to scooter… The ear is after all hyper-aesthetic compared to the neutral eye.

THE FILMMAKER: A National Film School of India graduate, Vipin Vijay is currently on a scholarship to London to research for a fictional feature film script at the National Sound Archives.

(RETROSPECTIVE) THE FILM:“In The Memory of Friends”
INDIA / 1990 / 60 MINS / HINDI-PUNJABI-ENGLISH
Camera: Anand Patwardhan
Editing: Anand Patwardhan
Produced and Directed by: Anand Patwardhan

SYNOPSIS: “In Memory of Friends” documents the violence and terror in Punjab, India – a land torn apart by religious fundamentalists and a repressive government. After examining the political turmoil of the late 1970s and rise of Sikh fundamentalism, the film concentrates on the legacy of Bhagat Singh, a young socialist hanged by the British in 1931 at age 23. Singh has since become an almost legendary figure. Today, both sides claim him as a symbol of their cause: the socialist state eulogizes him as a patriot, while Khalistani separatists portray him as a Sikh militant. In fact, Singh was neither. Just prior to his death he wrote a book which he entitled Why I Am An Atheist. Focusing on Singh's unlikely martyrdom, “In Memory of Friends” is an incisive look at the strife in India today. The film has won the Silver Conch at the Bombay Documentary Festival 1990, the Special Jury Prize in Mannheim, Germany 1990 and the National Award for the Best Investigative Documentary 1990.

THE FILMMAKER: Anand Patwardhan is an award-winning filmmaker who has been making political documentaries for nearly three decades. He has relentlessly pursued diverse and controversial issues that are at the crux of social and political life in India. At one time or another, many of his films have been banned by state television channels in India, to which Patwardhan invariably responded with litigation campaigns that successfully challenged his country's censorship practices. His other documentaries include " Bombay , Our City", "In Memory of Friends", "Ram Ke Naam" (In the Name of God), "Father, Son and Holy War", "A Narmada Diary" and "Fishing In A Sea of Greed." "War and Peace" has won the Grand Prize at the 2002 Earth Vision Film Festival ( Tokyo ); the Best Film and the International Jury Prize at the 2002 Mumbai International Film Festival ( India ); the Critic's Prize (FIPRESCI) at the 2002 Sydney International Film Festival and the Best Film at the 2002 Indian Documentary Producers Association's (IDPA).

THE FILM: “Jang Aur Aman” (War and Peace)
INDIA / 2002 / 175 MIN / HINDI-URDU-ENGLISH-JAPANESE
Camera: Anand Patwardhan
Editing: Anand Patwardhan
Script: Anand Patwardhan
Produced and Directed by: Anand Patwardhan

SYNOPSIS: Filmed over three tumultuous years in India, Pakistan, Japan and the United States, after the 1998 nuclear tests on the Indian sub-continent, “Jang Aur Aman” documents the current, epic journey of peace activism in the face of global militarism and war. Divided into six chapters, the film is framed by the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. This act of violence was so profound, its portent and poignancy remain undiminished 50 years later. The film examines India's trajectory towards naked militarism with sorrow, although along the way the film captures joyful stories of courage and resistance. As we enter the 21st century, enemies are being re-invented, economies are inextricably tied to the production and sale of weapons, and in the moral wastelands of the world, war has become perennial. Memories of Gandhi seem like a mirage that never was, created by our thirst for peace and our very distance from it.

THE FILMMAKER: Anand Patwardhan is an award-winning filmmaker who has been making political documentaries for nearly three decades. He has relentlessly pursued diverse and controversial issues that are at the crux of social and political life in India . At one time or another, many of his films have been banned by state television channels in India, to which Patwardhan invariably responded with litigation campaigns that successfully challenged his country's censorship practices. His other documentaries include " Bombay , Our City", "In Memory of Friends", "Ram Ke Naam" (In the Name of God), "Father, Son and Holy War", "A Narmada Diary" and "Fishing In A Sea of Greed." "War and Peace" has won the Grand Prize at the 2002 Earth Vision Film Festival ( Tokyo ); the Best Film and the International Jury Prize at the 2002 Mumbai International Film Festival ( India ); the Critic's Prize (FIPRESCI) at the 2002 Sydney International Film Festival and the Best Film at the 2002 Indian Documentary Producers Association's (IDPA).

THE FILM: “Laatoo”
PAKISTAN / 2002 / 82 MIN / ENGLISH-URDU
Camera: Aftab Ahmed, Akbar Ali, Alix Philippon
Editing: Akbar Ali, Alix Phillippon, Mian Mijwad Subhani
Sound: Akbar Ali
Producer: Peer Films
Directed by: Faizaan Peerzada, Alix Phillippon

SYNOPSIS: “Laatoo” explores the state of classical dance in Pakistan. It unfolds the trials and tribulations in the lives of a handful of professional dancers, namely Naheed Siddiqui, Sheema Kirmani, Tehreema Mitha, Indu Mitha and Fasihur Rehman. “Laatoo” tries to unveil the hypocrisy of our society, in which so many forms of dance prevail, but the classical dance form, the most exquisite and inspiring has failed to receive official patronage on the pretext of religious norms. On the other hand, as we see in the documentary, the Sufi tradition uses dance as a tool for union with the creator. In essence the documentary tries to show what dance really is, a celebration of life, not the vulgarization of it.

THE FILMMAKERS: Born in Lahore, Faizaan Peerzada is the son of Pakistan’s pioneering playwright Rafi Peer. Faizaan began his career at Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop in 1977 and now heads it as its Artistic Director. He has experience in organizing cross-cultural events that the company has arranged for children and adults all over the country. Faizaan Peerzada is also a painter, lighting designer and puppeteer of distinction and has been awarded the President’s medal for Pride of Performance for puppetry. He has created more than 2500 puppets for an assortment of puppet plays and over one hundred puppet shows for television as a director and stage and puppet designer. “Laatoo” is his first documentary.

Alix Phillippon was born in Aix-en-Provence, France, in 1976. She graduated from the Institute of Political Sciences, Aix-en-Provence, in 2001. She spent a year in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 1999-2000, working at the French Cultural Center and decided to come back to Pakistan in September 2001 in Lahore, where she worked as Deputy Director at the French Cultural Center. "Laatoo" is her first documentary.

THE FILM: “Made in India”
INDIA / 2002 / 37 MIN / ENGLISH-HINDI-MARATHI
Camera: A. Mukul Kishore
Editing: Shyamal Karmakar
Sound: Vipin Bhati
Music: Arjun Sen
Directed by: Madhusree Dutta

SYNOPSIS: A rural artist paints her autobiography, Bollywood movie icons’ images get erased after the weekly run of the film, the national flag flutters on 150 kites, an installation artist paints pop icons on the rolling shutters of shops, religious icons jostle for attention with plastic flowers on the vendor’s cart, metaphors of the life cycle adorn the mud wall of a home, neighborhood boys craft the tale of the WTC and the sale of toy planes goes up. Symbols of nationalism become a fashionable commodity. “Made in India” is a film on contemporary visual culture in India. India, the ever alert, ever forgetful, many layered, often intolerant, multi-lingual, multi-cultural conglomeration. A bahurupee, professional impersonator, changing personas from a monkey to Charlie Chaplin to Mahatma Gandhi to god Shiva.

THE FILMMAKER: A student of theatre, Madhusree Dutta, has been making non-fiction films since 1993. Gender, identity and marginalization are her chosen areas of work. Her films have been screened in several national and international film festivals and won several awards.
She is the executive director of Majlis, a center for multi-cultural initiative in India. The center is involved in campaigning for cultural literacy, producing films and multi-disciplinary art works and a current affairs video archive.

THE FILM: “Majma” (Performance)
INDIA / 2001 / 54 MINUTES / URDU-HINDI
Camera: Rahul Roy
Sound: Asheesh Pandya
Editing: Reena Mohan
Script: Saba Dewan, Rahul Roy
Directed by: Rahul Roy

SYNOPSIS: Aslam sells medicines for sexual problems on the pavements of Meena Bazaar near Jama Masjid in Delhi. Khalifa Barkat presides over an akhara (wrestling gym) in the adjacent park and puts a group of young men through the moral and physical grind of wrestling. Through the park and the market pass hundreds of men every day. “Majma” explores the instability and insecurity of working class lives and its impact on male sexuality and gender relations. “Majma” has been made under a fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

THE FILMMAKER: Rahul Roy completed his masters in film and TV production from the Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 1987 and since then has been working as an independent documentary film maker. For the last few years he has been working on the theme of masculinities. He is a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in India. His last two films “When Four Friends Meet…” and “Majma” (Performance) have been widely screened internationally including at the IDFA, International Documentary Festival in Munich, Yamagata International Documentary Festival, Hawaii International Film Festival, Hot Springs International Documentary Festival(USA), Cracow International Film Festival, RAI International Ethnographic Film Festival and several others.

THE FILM: “Mat” (The Vote)
INDIA / 2003 / 60 MIN / HINDI
Camera and Editing: Pankaj Rishi Kumar
Produced and Directed by: Pankaj Rishi Kumar

SYNOPSIS: “The Vote” is a filmic deconstruction of the electoral process. It closely examines the interests and issues that guide the performance of different players-political parties, candidates, party workers and voters – in a competition for power. The film follows Imtiaz Khan, BJP candidate, who finally stood third in the elections in Uttar Pradesh and Hemraj Saathi, a BJP worker. “The Vote” documents the nitty-gritty of elections in Siyana, an assembly constituency. The overall election process in Siyana forms the main structure, the matrix, of the film. The crucial subjects here are the voters, divided and categorized according to caste and community.

THE FILMMAKER: Pankaj Rishi Kumar has movies in his blood. His late father turned an old factory into the town of Kalpi's only cinema, Kumar Talkies. Kumar junior went on to a film editing career, working with such notable directors as Shekhar Kapoor on “Bandit Queen.” His first documentary, “Kumar Talkies”, offered a cinéma vérité portrait of the townspeople of Kalpi’s relationship to their only picture show and an examination of the consciousness-shaping role of local cinema in a globalised and digitised world. It won him wide acclaim. “Pathar Chujaeri” (The Play Is On), his second film, won the Bronze Remi at Houston as well as the MITIL award and was given a Special Jury Award at the 2nd KaraFilm Festival.

(RETROSPECTIVE) THE FILM: “Narmada Diary”
INDIA / 1995 / 50 MIN / HINDI - ENGLISH
Directed by: Anand Patwardhan and Simantini Dhuru

SYNOPSIS: The Sardar Sarover Dam in western India, lynch-pin of a mammoth development project on the river Narmada's banks, has been criticized as uneconomical and unjust. It will benefit prosperous urbanites at a cost borne by the rural poor. When completed, the dam will drown 37,000 hectares of fertile land, displace over 200,000 adivasis – the area's indigenous people – and cost up to 400 billion rupees. Ecological, cultural, and human costs – as often is the case with "mega" projects – have never been estimated. “A Narmada Diary” introduces the Narmada Bachao Andolan (the Save Narmada Movement) which has spearheaded the agitation against the dam. As government resettlement programs prove inadequate, the Narmada Bachao Andolan has emerged as one of the most dynamic struggles in India today. With non-violent protests and a determination to drown rather than to leave their homes and land, the people of the Narmada valley have become symbols of a global struggle against unjust development. The film won the Filmfare Award for Best Documentary and the Grand Prize at the Earth-Vision Film Festival in Tokyo in 1996.

THE FILMMAKER: Anand Patwardhan is an award-winning filmmaker who has been making political documentaries for nearly three decades. He has relentlessly pursued diverse and controversial issues that are at the crux of social and political life in India . At one time or another, many of his films have been banned by state television channels in India, to which Patwardhan invariably responded with litigation campaigns that successfully challenged his country's censorship practices. His other documentaries include " Bombay , Our City", "In Memory of Friends", "Ram Ke Naam" (In the Name of God), "Father, Son and Holy War", "A Narmada Diary" and "Fishing In A Sea of Greed." "War and Peace" has won the Grand Prize at the 2002 Earth Vision Film Festival ( Tokyo ); the Best Film and the International Jury Prize at the 2002 Mumbai International Film Festival ( India ); the Critic's Prize (FIPRESCI) at the 2002 Sydney International Film Festival and the Best Film at the 2002 Indian Documentary Producers Association's (IDPA).

THE FILM: "New Empire"
INDIA-USA / 2002 / 36 MIN / ENGLISH-HINDI
Camera & Editing: Kurush Canteenwala
Sound: Rikhav Desai
Music: Kurush Canteenwala, Zubin Rao
Written and Directed by: Kurush Canteenwala

SYNOPSIS: "New Empire" is a visually impressionistic, non-fictional film that attempts to chronicle a personal encounter with neo-colonialism and the memory of an accompanying loss of a way of urban being. The encounter is set around the memory of a uniquely Bombay-style 'Irani' restaurant at the epicenter of old Bombay - New Empire Restaurant and Bakery. The restaurant is now a McDonald's outlet. The film engages broadly with the complex changes occurring in a landscape, post-globalization, but seeks to explore them from a personal point of view. The film also quite simply, is itself like an evening spent at New Empire.

THE FILMMAKER: Kurush Canteenwala was born is Bombay. He currently teaches Film History and Aesthetics and Video Production at Depaul University, Chicago.

THE FILM: “A Night of Prophecy”
INDIA / 2002 / 77 MIN
Camera: Ranjan Palit
Editing: Sameera Jain
Sound: Asheesh Pandya
Music: Ajit Pillai, Sandeep Chatterjee
Executive Producer: Amar Kanwar
Produced and Directed by: Amar Kanwar

SYNOPSIS: “A Night of Prophecy” is a simple film about poetry and witnessing the passage of time. Through poetry emerges the possibility of understanding the past, the severity of conflict and the cycles of change. The film travels in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland and Kashmir. Through poetry you suddenly see where each and all the territories are heading to, where you belong and where to intervene, if you want to. The different poetic narratives merge together, allowing us to see a more universal language of symbols and meanings. The moment when this merger in the mind takes place is the simplest moment of prophecy.

THE FILMMAKER: Amar Kanwar is an independent documentary filmmaker working from New Delhi, India for the last fifteen years. His recent films have been on subjects of ecology, politics, art and philosophy. His documentaries have received several awards and have been widely broadcast and screened. He is also the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship in India. His recent films have also been exhibited at the Earth Summit 2002 in South Africa, in Documenta 11 in Germany and at the KaraFilm Festival.

THE FILM: “On An Express Highway”
INDIA / 2003 / 34 MIN / ENGLISH-HINDI
Producer: Rajiv Mehrotra
Directed by: Reena Mohan

SYNOPSIS: In December 2001, a 33 year old woman called Jignya Kiran Shah gave up the material world with all its conveniences and its ties of blood and love and obligation for the austere life of a Jain “sadhvi” (nun). This film traces Jignya’s journey for the first six months of her renunciation through a dialogue with the filmmaker.

THE FILMMAKER: Reena Mohan graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, with a specialization in editing. Since then she has worked as a freelance editor in film and video. She produced and directed her first film “Kamlabai” in 1992, which received national and international acclaim. Since then she has made six films.

THE FILM: “On My Own”
INDIA / 2002 / 29 MINS / ENGLISH
Camera: Sudhir Aggarwal
Sound: Girja Vohra
Editing: Nirmal Chander
Producer: The Public Service Broadcasting Trust
Concept, Script and Direction: Anupama Srinivasan

SYNOPSIS: Living in a city like this, cold, crude, cruel
A feeling of being watched, of having to be on your guard.
Coming back every evening to an empty flat …
But finally you are in your space, your very own space. You feel free.
As free as one can feel in a city like this.
More importantly, you learn things about yourself that you might not have otherwise know. You get a sense of who you really are. You grow up. This film is about women living alone in Delhi. Perhaps it is about choices. The film features five young women from middleclass Delhi who share with us their experiences of trying to live on their own in a conservative city. They justify their decisions to their families, come to terms with their own loneliness and insecurities, and also discover some things about themselves.

THE FILMMAKER: Anu Srinivasan was born in 1974 and is a freelance filmmaker based in Delhi. She has completed a three-year course in Cinema from the Film & Television Institute (FTII), Pune with a Specialization in Film Direction. Prior to that, during her undergraduate studies at Harvard University, she took courses in non-fictional filmmaking and still photography. She has held two solo shows of her photographs in Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, both of which were widely acclaimed. “On My Own” is her first independent film. It has been screened at various festivals and film clubs and has been greatly appreciated for sensitively addressing an issue that is becoming increasingly relevant in our cities today. Currently Anu is working on a documentary on the work of the world-famous dancer and choreographer, Mrinalini Sarabhai.

THE FILM: “Paradise On a River of Hell”
INDIA / 2002 / 29 MIN / ENGLISH
Camera: Shafqat Habib
Editing: Anil Kumar Jr., Ranish Pandit
Music: Madan Gopal Singh
Narrated by: Rajesh, Meenu Gaur
Research & Script: Abir Bazaz
Directed by: Meenu Gaur, Abir Bazaz

SYNOPSIS: The violence Kashmir witnessed in the 1990s shattered human dignity and changed everyday life beyond recognition. Years of insurgency and counterinsurgency not only interrupted the continuity of Kashmiri lives but forced Kashmiris into roles in which they no longer recognize themselves. The film is a journey through the narrator’s memory of Kashmir in the 1990s… a journey that ends at Charar-e-Sharief – the shrine of Nund Rishi (believed to be an incarnation of the Buddha by the Kashmiris), the founder of Kashmiri Rishism – the subversive 15th century mystic Order of Kashmiri Sufis. The narrator confronts on the way some of the silences that surround Kashmir.

THE FILMMAKERS: Abir Bazaz is a writer and filmmaker from Kashmir. He has been writing poetry and has published some writings on Kashmir. He lives in Delhi.

Meenu Gaur is an independent filmmaker from Delhi. She is actively engaged on issues of media, gender and politics.

THE FILM:“The People vs. Lyari Expressway”
PAKISTAN / 2002 / 43 MIN / URDU
Camera: Abuzar Khan
Producer: Action Aid Pakistan
Written, Edited and Directed by: Maheen Zia

SYNOPSIS: Lyari Expressway is the largest urban demolition project for the purpose of road-making in the world. If built, over 250,000 persons will be displaced and many thousand businesses destroyed. The area earmarked for demolition includes some of the poorest as well as oldest neighbourhoods in the heart of Karachi. City experts say that not only is the expressway unnecessary, the consequences of building it would be disastrous for the city. However, the government is determined to go ahead with the project, and has already begun demolition work. So far over 500 homes have been destroyed with the affected left to sit on rubble. This documentary is a record of atrocities, and of the people’s anger towards the upcoming ‘Lyari Expressway.’

THE FILMMAKER: Maheen Zia graduated with a bachelor’s degree in TV Production from Drake University (USA) in 1996. She returned to Pakistan in 1997 and worked at a post-production house for a year and a half before leaving to divide her time between teaching filmmaking at the University of Karachi and working on her own projects. She was editor for Pakistan’s first independent digital feature, “Raat Chali Hai Jhoom Ke” (aka “The Long Night”) and is currently working on the screenplay for her first feature.

(RETROSPECTIVE) THE FILM: “Ram Ke Naam” (In The Name of God)
INDIA / 1992 / 90 MIN / HINDI - ENGLISH
Camera and Editing: Anand Patwardhan
Written, Produced and Directed by: Anand Patwardhan

SYNOPSIS: Since gaining independence in 1947, India has been a declared secular state. But as religious fundamentalism grips much of India's population, the greatest danger to the nation's extremely strained social fabric may come not from Sikh or Muslim separatists, but from Hindu fundamentalists who are appealing to the 83% Hindu majority to redefine India as a Hindu nation. “Ram Ke Naam” focuses on the campaign waged by the militant Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to destroy the 16th century Babri mosque in Ayodhya. The religious violence resulting from the destruction of the mosque immediately spread throughout India and Pakistan leaving more than 5,000 dead, and causing thousands of Indian Muslims to flee their homes. Filmed prior to the mosque's demolition, the film examines the motivations which would ultimately lead to the drastic actions of the Hindu militants, as well as the efforts of secular Indians – many of whom are Hindus – to combat the religious intolerance and hatred that has seized India in the name of God. The film has won the Filmfare Award for Best Documentary, the National Award for Best Investigative Documentary (1992), the Ecumenical Prize in Nyon, Switzerland, the Documentary Prize in Freibourg, Switzerland and the Citizen’s Prize in Yamagata, Japan. (1993)

THE FILMMAKER: Anand Patwardhan is an award-winning filmmaker who has been making political documentaries for nearly three decades. He has relentlessly pursued diverse and controversial issues that are at the crux of social and political life in India . At one time or another, many of his films have been banned by state television channels in India, to which Patwardhan invariably responded with litigation campaigns that successfully challenged his country's censorship practices. His other documentaries include " Bombay , Our City", "In Memory of Friends", "Ram Ke Naam" (In the Name of God), "Father, Son and Holy War", "A Narmada Diary" and "Fishing In A Sea of Greed." "War and Peace" has won the Grand Prize at the 2002 Earth Vision Film Festival ( Tokyo ); the Best Film and the International Jury Prize at the 2002 Mumbai International Film Festival ( India ); the Critic's Prize (FIPRESCI) at the 2002 Sydney International Film Festival and the Best Film at the 2002 Indian Documentary Producers Association's (IDPA).

THE FILM: “Search for Freedom”
PAKISTAN-USA-CANADA / 2003 / 54 MIN / DARI-HAZARGI-ENGLISH
Camera: Maryam Pasha, Munizae Jahangir, Nashid Faruqi
Editing: Munizae Jahangir, Stacy Kim, Raffael Parra
Narrated by: Zainab Mehmood
Written, Produced and Directed by: Munizae Jahangir

SYNOPSIS: Search for Freedom is a documentary that explores how the lives of four Afghan women are affected by the political and social turmoil in Afghanistan, from the 1920s to the present day. The women relate their own personal stories, depicting what they felt and sensed as events unfolded around them. It features Princess Shafiqa Saroj, youngest sister of progressive King Amanullah (1919-1929); Mairman Parveen, the first woman to sing on Afghan radio; Mohsina, a survivor of a Taliban Massacre and Sohaila, a young medical student who ran underground schools during the Taliban regime.

THE FILMMAKER: Munizae Jahangir works as an anchor-reporter for the ‘Current Affairs Channel’, Pakistan National Television, where she directs and reports on environment issues, child labor and human rights abuses. She was a research assistant and cameraperson for a documentary on ‘Acid Burnt Women’ directed by Ahmer Rehman. She co-produced a documentary on “Street Children of Lahore”, which was screened in community centers around Pakistan. She has been a freelance journalist for the past 10 years and has also instructed 16mm film production at The New School University. Jahangir holds a BA in political science and English from McGill University, Montreal, Canada and an MA in Media Studies, with a concentration in film and video from New School University, New York. “Search for Freedom” has been screened at Amnesty International’s USA film festivals.

THE FILM: “The Speaking Hand”
INDIA / 2002 / 104 MIN / ENGLISH
Cinematography: Barun Mukherjee, Vijay Khambati, Harsh Dave, Sumantra Ghosal
Editing: Amit Karia, Manoj Shroff, Adesh Dube, Sumantra Ghosal
Sound: Harsh Dave, Dilip Kulkarni, Gaurav Chopra
Executive Producers: Harsh Dave, Amita Madhvani
Post-Production: Manoj Shroff, Jignesh Maru, Rahul kale, Sumanth David
Producers: Ram Madhvani, Sumantra Ghosal
Directed by: Sumantra Ghosal

SYNOPSIS: The son of the tabla legend Ustad Alla Rakha, Ustad Zakir Hussain began his performing career as a child prodigy. Later, through path-breaking experiments, he dramatically enlarged the scope of his chosen instrument. Today he is celebrated internationally as a composer and a star performer. “The Speaking Hand” charts Zakir’s growth from the by-lanes of Bombay to his current fame as a world musician. In the course of this exciting history we experience first-hand the unforgettable magic of his fingers. We see him perform with the many legends of the Indian classical world. We hear him explain the intricacies of the tabla. And, we get rare glimpses of the Planet Drum tour that brought together master drummers of the world in a breath-taking celebration of world rhythms. The concerts in “The Speaking Hand” are linked by fascinating interviews that give the film a unique structure and charm.

THE FILMMAKER: Sumantra Ghosal was born into a family with abiding interests in cinema and music. Filmmaking was an early ambition and has remained a serious pursuit. In 1980 he started a production company to make TV commercials. He has since won numerous national and international awards for his work as a director. In 2002 Sumantra and his partner Ram Madhvani, co-produced India 's first theatrically released digital feature film - " Let's Talk ". Sumantra doubled up as the cinematographer for the film, which was shown to great critical acclaim at the Locarno and Mill Valley Festivals. With "The Speaking Hand" Sumantra turns to the documentary to pay rich tribute to the genius of one of India 's most popular classical musicians.

THE FILM: “Terror’s Children”
PAKISTAN-USA / 2002 / 45 MIN / URDU-PASHTU-DARI-PERSIAN-UZBEKI
Camera: Ahmad Khan
New York Times Reporter: David Rohde
Editing: Jay Keuper
Producers: Sharmeen Obaid, Mohammed Naqvi and Jay Keuper
Directed by: Sharmeen Obaid

SYNOPSIS: “Terror’s Children” is a personal journey of a Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid. For ten weeks in the summer of 2002, she followed the lives of eight Afghan refugee children in the city of Karachi who had been forced to flee their war ravaged homes in Afghanistan, often alone, to face hunger, disease, illiteracy, servitude and even forced militancy. While many of these children live in the Afghan refugee camp, some also live in illegal encroachments near garbage dumps and become scavengers who sell paper and bottles that they have collected by sifting through trash. Others find refuge in religious schools that provide free food, shelter and clothing to young boys in exchange for their allegiance to the cause of militant Islam. In “Terror’s Children”, the filmmaker brings to light the plight of eight children: Ghulam Mohyuddin, a 15-year-old garbage picker; Abdur Raheem, a 13-year-old carpet weaver; Noor Mohammed, a nine-year-old water seller; Bareed, an 11-year-old garbage picker; Anissa and Laila, 11- and nine-year-old Afghani girls; Khal Mohammed, a 10-year-old hardline Islamic school student; and Hashmatullah, a student at a moderate Islamic school.

THE FILMMAKER: Sharmeen Obaid is a Pakistani filmmaker from Karachi currently studying for her masters in journalism at Stanford University. “Terror’s Children” was her first documentary. She is currently working on her second documentary with The New York Times.

THE FILM: “UnLimited Girls”
INDIA / 2002 / 94 MIN / ENGLISH-HIND-MARATHI
Camera: Mrinal Desai
Editing: Jabeen Merchant
Sound: Subir Das
Music: Naresh Kamath, Paresh Kamath
Graphics & Animation: Geetanjali Rao, Zaheer Merchant
Producer: Sakshi
Directed By: Paromita Vohra

SYNOPSIS: “UnLimited Girls” is an exploration of engagements with feminism. Told through the conversations of a narrator called Fearless who starts accidentally in a chatroom and embarks on a journey where she encounters diverse characters, the film uses a personally reflective tone and playfully eclectic form, mixing non-fiction and fiction, to ask questions about feminism in our lives: why must women lead double lives, being feminist but not saying they are? How do we remain politically engaged as individuals who will not join groups? If feminism changes the way we live, then do we change the meaning of feminism as we live it? And then how do we separate true feminists from false ones? Will X-ray vision work better, or female intuition – or is there a common set of principles in this multiple-interpreted philosophy? How do we make sense of love and anger, doubt and confusion, the personal and the political in this enterprise of pushing the boundaries, of being un-limited – the enterprise we call feminism.

THE FILMMAKER: Paromita Vohra is a filmmaker and writer from Bombay, India whose earlier work has focused on issues of gender, politics, urban life and popular media. Her earlier films as director include “A Woman’s Place” a documentary about women’s legal strategies in India, South Africa and the USA; “Annupurna: Goddess of Food” about an organization of women food workers in Bombay’s textile mill area; and “A Short Film About Time” a short fiction about a woman with a broken heart, her therapist, and his watch. Her films as a writer are “Skin Deep” – about women, body-image and self identity; “A Few Things I Know About Her” – about the living oral traditions of Mirabai; and “Silent Waters".