Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2013
25,26,27 January; Book Point; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
final list of films:
International Films: Documentaries
1) Scorpions
Dir: Simo Hakalisto; Finland;
74 min; 2012; Cambodian, English
Documentary
discusses the post-war generation's life in Cambodia with many scars; the
reconstruction of the post-genocide society not only in a concrete but also in
a mental sense. Even after a harsh drawback it is possible to find a meaning for
one's life. The film is a demonstration of the healing effects of sports.
2) The Wild Ones
Dir: Lucy Kaye; UK;
30 min; 2012; English
Impact
Pupil Referral Unit, in Bootle, Liverpool,
provides a last chance for teenagers expelled from school to gain
qualifications. This term, seven pupils get to leave the Unit to try a new way
of learning in an unlikely sanctuary for rescued horses, in the heart of this
run-down neighbor-hood. Run by local resident Bernadette Langfield, several
wild ponies that she saved from being culled need taming. But these horses,
like the pupils have their own troubled backgrounds and in order for a relationship
between them to develop, both horses and teenagers have to first deal with
their own behavioral difficulties.
Dir: Yaasib Vazquez; Mexico;
29 min; 2011; Spanish
Yuban is
about the transformation of a Zapotecan community. It portraits the longing for
a set of principles that are about to die and the effort the people make to
keep their culture alive.
Dir: Dara Kell & Christopher
Nizza; 93 min; 2011; English
When their shantytowns are threatened
with mass eviction, three “young lions” of South Africa’s new generation rise
from the shacks and take their government to the highest court in the land,
putting the promises of democracy to the test.
5) Sisters without Misters
Dir: Cynthia Cheeseman; 11mins 37sec; English
‘Sisters without Misters’ is a short documentary that gives a
brief look into the lives of those women who love women. The short touches on
aspects of their lives such as family, friends and religion, coupled with
glimpses of their coming out stories.
Dir: Tracy Assing; 36 min; 2010; English
The director makes a personal exploration of her roots as a
member of the Santa Rosa Carib Community based in Arima, Trinidad. The community celebrates the Santa Rosa
Festival annually and its Queen Valentina Medina is Assing’s great aunt.
International Films: Short fiction
Dir: Piotr Sulkowski; Poland; 20 min; 2012; Polish
After an
argument with her lover, a young woman recklessly gets into the parked car of a
mysterious stranger. Their brief encounter will lead to mutual attraction,
insight and fatal accomplishment, during a journey to the end of the night. Through
a maze of colorful flashbacks, intricately related to the main character’s painful
past, the destiny of the young woman is inevitably connected to that of an imaginary
fish.
Dir: Juan Pablo Zaramella; Argentina; 6mins; 2012; Spanish
In a world controlled and timed by light, an ordinary man has
a plan that could change the natural order of things.
Dir: Roberto Dominiguez, Jorge Manzaneque, Macgregor; Spain;
14:51mins; 2012; Spanish
Returning a movie was ever so hard…
Dir: Damian Dionisio; Argentina; 11 min; 2011; Spanish
Argentina, 1976.
Claude is forced to live with his family in hiding, due to his political
ideals. The house in which they live is discovered by the military. No time to
flee, Teresa his wife, tries to shelter her daughter in a fantasy world.
Dir: Elena Golyanima; Russia; 15 min; 2012; Russian
Alexander
is a successful businessman. He achieves all his goals by means and without any
doubts. A child voice responds his cries.
Rest of India: Documentaries
Dir: Anand
Patwardhan; 180 min; 2012; Marathi with Tamil subtitles
In 1997, a
statue of Dr.Ambedkar in a Dalit Colony in Mumbai was desecrated with footwear.
As angry residents gathered, police opened fire killing10. Vilas Ghogre, a
leftist poet, hung himself in protest. Jai Bhim Comrade shot over 14 years,
follows the poetry and music of people like Vilas marks a subaltern tradition
of reason that from the days of Buddha, has fought superstition and religious
bigotry.
Dir:
R.V.Ramani; 90 min; 2011; English, Tamil, Bengali
The film
shares special moments that the filmmaker experienced with his camera, a
special bonding over a period of 4 years in terms of creating cinematic
imagery, relating, exploring, seeking and interpreting notions of his reality.
It is a memory of a camera which perished in the Tsunami, along with its last filmed
footage.
Dir:
K.R.Manoj; 66 min; 2011; Malayalam,
Hindi with English subtitles
This film
unravels the many interwoven layers of culture and agriculture and foregrounds
the logic of green revolution. In an atypical move, it challenges and changes
the idioms of pesticide and genocide and reveals the claims over knowledge and
expertise, which pushes a pesticide like Endosulfan to a dubious position
between poison and medicine.
Dir:
Pankaj Rishikumar; 72 min; 2012; Tamil with English subtitles
After
taming a former wasteland through hard work and sweat and creating a community,
the settlers start living there. A mythical birth of their village God Sudalai
Swami unfolds the village’s unique journey to fight the oppression of “big”
Vanmamalai temple. Now that the clergy owns the land, the settlers are reduced
to being tenant farmers and must make way for redevelopment after the land is
sold off for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
Dir:
Sreemith; 34 min; 2012, Tamil, Malayalam with English subtitles
The film
tries to raise some questions on safety, development, energy … regarding one of the biggest non violent, people's struggles of the post modern Tamilnadu.
Rest of India: Short Fiction
Dir: Harsha Setty GR; No dialogue; 18.45 min; 2012
Four
friends (Raja, Vicky, Mohan & Shaila) get high on drugs and meet with an
unfortunate accident on the outskirts of the city/ no-man’s land. Mohan and
Shaila die on the spot, Raj is on the verge of dying and his life is in hanging
preciously
between life and death, Vicky is badly injured. The story revolves around
Vicky’s struggle to escape the clutches of dependability on drugs and trying to
save his friend Raj.
Dir: Arun karthick; Malayalam; 14 mins; 2011
A lonely island, a traumatic traveler, a story that mirrors
the waters; a brutal rape, and her return to the waters. Set in the midst of
the island. The “Back water” is a haunting boat journey into the life of a
secluded girl.
Films from Tamilnadu: Documentaries
1) Pennadi / My Mirror is the Door
Dir: Leena Manimekalai; 52 min; 2012; Tamil
Women poets were a strong presence in
Sangam literature of yesteryears and their scholarship is proved that total of
154 of the 2831 poems carry women's signatures, Leena Manimekalai, the
contemporary Tamil woman poet enters the cavern of her own mind and finds there
the scattered leaves not only of her own power but of the tradition of her
foremothers that might have generated that power.
Dir: Bharathi Krishnakumar; 108 min;
Tamil; 2011
The brutality faced by the tribal
women of Vaachathi in the hands of forest officials unfolds after 20 years.
3) Kathirveechu Kathaikal Pagam 2
Dir: Amudhan R.P.; 28 min; Tamil;
2011
Dr.Pugalendi, an activist doctor from
Sadras Kuppam shares his experiences of fighting with nuclear radiation in
Kalpakkam.
Dir: Geetha Ilangovan; 38 min; Tamil;
2012
The film speaks about the
misconceptions, superstitious beliefs and social stigma attached with menses.
The film is made by women for men.
Dir: Vetrivel Chandrasekar; 65 min;
2011
The story of Senkodi, who sacrificed
her life while fighting against the capital punishment.
Films from Tamilnadu: Short fiction
Dir: Sivasubramaniyan; 15 min; Tamil;
When a poor boy wants to continue his
education he needs to pretend that he killed his father.
A film by Jai; 20mins; 2012; Tamil
Love and life of two youngsters, the chain that connects
their lives, and how are they interrelated together.
A film by S.Raja; 8mins; 2012; Tamil
Cigarette smoking is injurious to health.
www.marupakkamfilms.blogspot.com
