Films by Suma Jasson

I Want My Father Back 2007, 50 minutes, Hindi/Marathi with English sub-titles Direction: Suma Josson Camera: Rakesh Haridas, Sachin Gadankush Editing: Krishnendu Sarkar‘ 

 I Want My Father Back’ is a film on the suicide of farmers in Vidarbha. Vidarbha is in the eastern region of Maharastra State in India. The film looks at the reasons behind these suicides, beginning with the fall- out of the Green Revolution, the changing traditional methods of farming, especially with regard to seeds, the globalization process, the debt-loan trap faced by farmers, and the devastating effects of Bt. seeds. The film speaks in favour of organic farming and ultimately shows that the death of the farmer also means the death of the soil. sumajosson@yahoo.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09SoQ7hQvGM&feature=bulletin

Niyamgiri, You are Still Alive 2011, 17 mins, Oriya with English sub-titles Direction: Suma Josson Camera: Rakesh Haridas, Tapan Vyas Editing: J. Valiakulathil, Nisha Josson In 2006 Sterlite, a subsidiary of UK mining company Vedanta built a refinery in Niyamgiri Hills, Orissa, India. The intention was to mine bauxite from the Niyamgiri Hills, which is in reserved forest. It is also home to indigenous communities who are dependent on it for their livelihood. They have been fiercely opposing Vedanta. Mining on Niyamgiri will destroy its rich biodiversity and wildlife. The toxic waste material from the refinery pollutes air, ground and water. On August 24th, 2010 a turning point was reached in the struggle to save Niyamgiri http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJt59wbNI6s

Before The Last Tree Falls

70 mins, 2006; Direction: Suma Josson; Camera: Joselin J. Alphonse, P. Pratapan; Editor: Biju V. Sukumaran

‘Before The Last Tree Falls’ is a 75 min film on the suicide of farmers in Wayanad, Kerala, India. The film looks at the totality of the subject -- the switch to cash crops, the exploitation of natural resources like soil and water to maximize production, the over use of fertilizers and pesticides, which results in diseases to both humans and crops -- and consequently the setting in of an environmental disaster in Wayanad.

Films by Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Kalamandalam Gopi - 1999
directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan

In the film Gopi is presented in the first person narrative. The film watches as the artiste transforms himself into diverse and glittering personalities and, in the process, we obtain rare glimpses of his life and art.As has been the experience of many a master, Gopi had a difficult childhood marked by poverty and travails. Gopi is adept at playing all types of roles, whether the characters are pacha, kathi of kari. But Kathakali's connoisseurs prefer most of all to see him portraying pacha (i.e. noble and heroic characters and, indeed, he has excelled in such roles.

The film won the State award for best documentary in 1999.

Films by Anjali Monteiro & K.P.Jayasankar

Our Family Dir: Anjali Monteiro and KP Jayasankar ; 56 mins; Tamil with English subtitles; 2007 

Set in Tamilnadu, India, ‘Our Family’ brings together excerpts from Nirvanam, a one person performance, by Pritham K. Chakravarthy and a family of three generations of trans-gendered female subjects. Aasha, Seetha and Dhana, who are bound together by ties of adoption, belong to the community called Aravanis (aka Hijras, in some parts of India). Aasha Bharathi, the grandmother, is the president of the Tamilnadu Aravanigal Association, Chennai. Seetha, the daughter lives with her male partner Selvam, in Coimbatore. Dhana, Seetha’s adopted daughter also lives with her and shuttles between her adopted and her natal families. 

 She Write Dir: Anjali Monteiro & KP Jayasankar; 55 min; Tamil with Eng.subtitles; 2005 

 SheWrite weaves together the narratives and work of four Tamil women poets. Salma negotiates subversive expression within the tightly circumscribed space allotted to a woman in a small town. For Kuttirevathi, solitude is a crucial creative space from where her work resonates. Her anthology entitled Breasts (2003) elicited hate mail, obscene calls and threats. The fact that women poets are exploring themes such as desire and sexuality been opposed by some Tamil film lyricists, who have gone on record with threats of death and violence. This has been resisted by a collective of poets and artists called Anangu (Woman). Malathy Maitri is a founder member of Anangu. Her poems explore feminine power and spaces. Sukirtharani writes of desire and longing, celebrating the body and feminine empowerment. The film traverses these diverse modes of resistance, through images and sounds that evoke the universal experiences of pain, anger, desire and transcendence.

Films by Vinod Raja

Mahua Memoirs
Dir:Vinod Raja; 82min; Kannada, Telugu, Oriya, Hindi with Eng.subtitles; 2007

Saloo, the bard, and Thirku, the Baiga, take us on a journey through the lives of the many adivasi communities who live in the mountain tracts and forests of the Eastern Ghats across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. As in most indigenous homelands the world over, these regions too are rich in natural resources including minerals; resources that have become the source of their greatest insecurities.

Through their stories and songs, interwoven with the metaphor of Bewar, a form of shifting cultivation practiced by many adivasis, the film unravels and unfolds both their life visions and their struggles against the merciless mining, particularly over the past two decades, that is consuming their lands and their lives.

Films by Sreemith

Filling the Blank
Dir: Sreemith; 50 Min; Malayalam with Eng. subtitles

Dalit women autorikshaw drivers Chitralekha and Elizabeth, living in the northern part of Kerala, trying to fend for their living in the male and upper caste domains of work being bullied out…; two independent Muslim women, their aunties and their children living in a rental house run by the mosque committee, and not succumbing to the sexual mores of the local men,not being allowed to live in peace and ultimately sent out from their homes, as there was no male family member permanently living with them…

Films by Leena Manimekalai

Goddesses
Dir:Leena Manimekalai; 42 min; Tamil with Eng. subtitles

Notes from the lives of three extra ordinary women – a funeral singer; a fisherwoman; a graveyard worker. Here is the story of three ordinary women who live extra ordinary lives surviving darkest of times and gone against society's norms to live and work according to the rules they have set for themselves.

Films by P.Baburaj & C.Sarachandran

‎1000 Days and a dream
Dir: P. Baburaj & C.Saratchandran; 60 mins; Malayalam with English subtitles;

On the four and a half years old anti-Coca Cola struggle in Plachimada, Kerala. Perhaps, no other agitation in recent times in Kerala has attracted national and global attention like this one. The film captures the spirit of the struggle, traces the history and discusses the several issues raised by the struggle. It also documents the poignant moments of the struggle and shares the dreams and sorrows of some of the active participants of the struggle.