Workers Film Festival 2022

CLICK THE NAMES OF THE FILMS TO WATCH!

1-3 May; 48 hours; online event
6 am to 6 am! Entry free
Organised by MARUPAKKAM

Film 01 : Natak Jari Hai / The Play Goes On (Dir : Lalit Vachani; 83 min; 2005)

What does it mean to perform socialist ‘agit-prop’ theatre in India in a globalized era of increasing intolerance and inequality?

Natak Jari Hai is a documentary about JANAM (The People’s Theatre Front), the little theatre group that never stopped performing in the face of dramatic political transformation and personal tragedy.

The film explores the motivations and ideals of the JANAM actors and their vision of resistance and change as they perform their ‘People’s Theatre’ in diverse parts of India. It brings to life the world of socialist theatre through the words of JANAM’s members, and through a reflective portrayal of the group’s greatest tragedy - the assassination of its convenor Safdar Hashmi in 1989.

Film 02 : AT MY DOORSTEP (Dir : Nishtha Jain; 70 min; 2009)

A closer look at those who come to the filmmaker’s door becomes a way of entering a parallel world of garbage collectors, domestic workers, delivery boys, watchmen —all those who labour long hours in difficult conditions to make middle and upper class lives in the city of Bombay more comfortable. These providers of services and goods often remain faceless and nameless. They are, like the people who enjoy their services, mainly migrants, but their presence here is more sharply defined by the lack of survival options back home.

Nothing else explains why they should bear with such harsh living and The film looks at the crisscrossing of various lives in the filmmaker’s housing colony, gleaning from this microcosm a sense of how millions work, interact and struggle for a firmer foothold in an indifferent, often hostile megacity. 

Film 03 : Saacha (Dir: Anjali Monteiro and K P Jayasankar; 49 mins; 2001)

The fabric of the city emerged from the warp and weft of diverse threads, from the labour of migrant communities that made Bombay/Mumbai their own. The cotton mills and the proletariat that worked in them were central to the creation of the city.

Through the poetry of Narayan Surve, the paintings of Sudhir Patwardhan, the music of the Shahir Amar Shaikh Cultural Troupe and the filmmakers’ images of a precarious yet resilient space, Saacha chronicles the changing life and times of a city that was once the hub of the working class movement in India.

Weaving together poetry and paintings with memories of the city, the film explores the politics of representation, the relevance of art in the contemporary social milieu, the dilemmas of the left and the trade union movement and the changing face of a huge metropolis.

Saacha, filmed in 2000, when the cotton textile industry was in the final stages of its decline, brings to bear an intimate and perceptive gaze on the lifeword of the mills and their workers, which has since been totally erased from the history and geography of the city.

Film 04 : Work of Fire (Dir : K R Manoj; 57 min; 2017)

Work of Fire takes a look at the varying vicissitudes of the Indian fireworks industry, while trying to ask a question: why do we need fireworks?

In its movement from the grimy firework production centres in Sivakasi, to moments of festivities, the documentary addresses the human desire to create the spectacular against the ordinary.

Film 05 : Bahadur, The Accidental Brave (Dir : Aditya Seth; 57 min; 2017)

With an open border between India and Nepal, labour migration to various cities and parts of India has historically been an important economic resource for Nepalese households.

The documentary “Bahadur- The Accidental Brave” is an in - depth look into the Nepalese migrants’ life in a socio- economic / political context.

Film 06 : THE FIRE WITHIN (Dir : Sriprakash; 57 min; 2002)

The film draws a painful portrait of the transformation of the land of the Tana Bhagats (a sect of the Oraon tribe who adhered to non-violence and a Gandhian philosophy) into a land that endures a violent Naxalite movement today.

At the same time, the film talks about corruption, the power of the mafia and the displacement of tribal identities in an area where coal mining is widespread.

Film 07 : Puzhayal/ Merman (Dir : Pratap Joseph; 64 min; 2022)

This documentary is about a man named Palakkal Abdul Kader. He is a 74 - year - old ordinary man living in Kuttikkadav near Mavoor, Kerala. For the last fifteen years he removes plastic waste from the river Cherupuzha, one of the tributaries of Chaliyar river.

The struggle against Mavoor Gwalior Ryons' polluting of air and water is a land mark in the history of environmental movements in Kerala. Mavoor wetland spreading over 300 acres, is a paradise of migratory birds.  Puzhayal is a real time documentary with out music and dialogue.

Film 08 : Tanko Bole Chhe / The Stitches Speak (Dir : Nina Sabnani; 12 min; 2009)

Tanko Bole Chhe (The Stitches Speak) is an animated documentary which celebrates the art and passion of the Kutch artisans associated with Kala Raksha. The film traces multiple journeys made by the participants towards defining their identities and towards forming the Kala Raksha Trust and the School for Design. 

The film uses their narrative art of appliqué and embroideries through which they articulate their responses to life, and events as traumatic as the earthquake and as joyful as flying a kite. Through conversations and memories four voices share their involvement in the evolution of a craft tradition.

Film 09 : ‘Sheela Gowda at Battarahalli Corner’ (Dir: Sushma Veerappa; 10 min; 2016)

This film begins where the exhibition ends. 'Sheela Gowda at Battarahalli Corner’ responds to the artist’s presence amidst the everyday objects and rituals she exalts in her work. The film sometimes surrenders to the art and at most other times to the artist with her creation.

As the whole becomes it’s parts, the act of uninstalling also becomes a metaphor for the artist’s practice. The physical becomes notional. The film becomes the meeting place for the power and sublime in the commonplace, as Sheela Gowda uninstalls her exhibition.

Film 10 : Those Stars in the Sky (Dir: Debaranjan; 58 min)

When people die, they become stars is a common belief. This film promulgates such belief in view of those killed by the State forces like in police firing, fake encounters, in custody, and by the private armies of the corporations. The killing of common people and the rise of corporations have been a reality since economic reforms in India. In this background, this film is essayed between 2013 and 2018 when the State is engaged with a battle among its people for land acquisition of various corporations in India.

Film 11 : Hunting Down Water (Dir : Sanjay Barnela & Vasant Saberwal; 32 min)

“These things look good only on television… things about economy and saving water and all that” say Nidhi and Madhur looking fresh after a rollicking rain dance party. Or take the case of Somabhai Patel of Memna village in Gujarat who owns 14 bore-wells on his agricultural land,

“The water used to be at 100 feet below the ground just a few years ago, now it has gone down to 500 feet”. The Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai reveals startling facts to highlight the misuse of water by the urban elite,

“Mumbai has 15 lakh cars (in 2003) each using 15 litres of water per day for washing– a total of 2.25 crore litres of potable water used only on cars everyday”. Quotes that reinforce the fact that the present water crisis is largely a crisis of our own making.

Hunting Down Water shows you how!

Film 12 : Bird Trapper or Beggar (Dir : Vinod Raja)

They are a free spirited nomadic tribe who began their journey many generations ago in the North Western part of the Indian subcontinent. Over time they traveled through and settled in different states of the country.

As they moved, they survived through trapping birds and hunting small game in the forests and selling them in cities and towns along with lucky charms and trinkets. If the trap failed, begging was the next best bet!

The film emerged through a series of community conversations held when we travelled with friends from a settlement in Bannerghatta, Bangalore to other settlements across Karnataka.

Exiled from the forest, reviled by the city, their traditional ways of life outlawed, the Hakki Pikkis share their stories of wit and survival.

Film 13 : From the Balconies: A March of Hunger and Thirst (A Video Essay by Mitali & Abhirup)

This video essay is a humble effort to depict the tormenting experiences of the migrant labours in the time of pandemic and lockdown stricken India. The reality, that has been exposed in this period of pain and agony, is here for forthcoming days. Clippings from different news media, information sent by journalist friends and statements of the migrants of their own have been used for the documentation and making of this essay.

Film 14 : Sweet Biriyani (Dir : Jeyachandra Hasmi; 23 min)

Sweet Biriyani deals with a food delivery guy and his experiences in a single day. Marimuthu, a law student, delivers food for his family’s economic needs. He enjoys riding the bike all day, listening to a variety of songs. On what looked like an ordinary day, Marimuthu encounters humiliation, prejudice, and arrogance. How did he find his solace, and what was his retaliation? Sweet Biriyani answers it intensely and humanely.

CLICK THE NAMES OF THE FILMS TO WATCH!