The three-day Flashpoint Human Rights Film Festival, which brings together eight extraordinary films from around the world that deal with human rights issues, gets under way in New Delhi on Thursday.
The films urge people to reflect, react, revolutionalise and act as a ‘flashpoint’ to usher in change. The festival has already been held in Mumbai from December 8-10, 2010. The New Delhi edition would include special focused thematic screenings and panel discussions.
The eight documentaries to be screened at Flashpoint, which were part of the ‘Matter of Act’ programme at the Movies That Matter Film Festival 2010 in the Netherlands, highlight the extraordinary work done by eight human rights defenders across the world, and their brave fight against injustice and oppression. These films show what great dangers these activists have to face to do their work when freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial and the right to life are rampantly violated.
The films look at human rights issues like human trafficking and child prostitution; violation of international laws on war and peace; atrocities under military regimes; religious fundamentalism and homophobia; political annexation/occupation and oppression; women disempowerment and honour killings; ravages of civil war and hostilities; and war crimes and killing of innocents.
“Screening of these films along with panel discussion and media campaigns could possibly bring about a change in perceptions and mindsets and initiate action. Flashpoint intends to spotlight human rights issues and make a call for the audience to act as ‘Flashpointers’,” says Sridhar Rangayan of Solaris Pictures, which is organising the festival.
Rangayan talks of the genesis of the festival, “For me, actually, it was an emotional response. I was a jury member at Movies That Matter Film Festival in the Netherlands in March last year. I saw ten films on human rights that shook me up pretty much – it brought into focus many human rights violations that I didn't know much about and it also showed me how human rights defenders, who sometimes are mere ordinary girls and women, can actually stand up and fight a violent establishment. It made me cry, but it also gave me hope. That’s when I felt that I should try to get these films to India to share it with audiences here. That’s how Flashpoint Human Rights Film festival was born.
Rangayan’s Solaris Pictures has consistently been making films on issues such as homosexuality and gay rights, films that engage the audience and initiate dialogues on issues dealing with health and sexuality, human rights, and the gay and transgender communities.
The films being screened are Redlight by Guy Jacobson and Adi Ezroni; Song For Amine by Alberto Bougleux; Suddenly, Last Winter by Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi; The 10 Conditions Of Love by Jeff Daniels; The Sari Soldiers by Julie Bridgham; To Shoot An Elephant by Alberto Arce and Mohammed Rujailah; Women in Shroud by Farid Haerinejad and Mohammad Reza Kazemi; and Women in White by Gry Winther.
But why is a film festival screening so few films? Explains Rangayan, “This film festival is about quality instead of quantity. Though we are screening only eight films (each of them screened twice), every film is worth its weight in gold. What is interesting is that before each screening we have a special message by the filmmaker or human rights defender specially sent by them for the festival.”
He continues, “Three of the defenders of human rights portrayed in the documentaries – Rebiya Kadeer of East Turkestan, Somaly Mam and Mu Sochua of Cambodia – have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Messages sent by them and some of the filmmakers are also being shared with the audience at the festival.”
The films document the ongoing struggle to release the 75 journalists, writers and human rights activists arrested overnight, sentenced and incarcerated under the fascist regime in Cuba in Women in White; the search for persons disappeared since the early nineties in the forgotten war waged on radical Islam in Algeria in Song For Amine; the nationwide wave of homophobia sparked in protest against the Italian government’s introducing a bill to reinforce legal status of domestic partnerships in Suddenly, Last Winter; Israeli atrocities inflicted on the children of Palestine in the Gaza strip in To Shoot an Elephant; the barbaric practice of public stoning to death in Iran in Women in Shroud; the spate of kidnappings and disappearances under the regime of Nepal’s Royal Army in The Sari Soldiers; child trafficking in Cambodia in Red Light; and the oppression of the Uyghurs in East Turkestan by communist China, a story with marked similarities to that of Tibet.
The festival, which will be held at Alliance Francaise, is being co-organised by Magic Lantern Foundation, non-profit group working with culture and human rights. The foundation is involved with production of documentary films that explore aesthetics and politics, campaigning with films on issues of social justice, culture and censorship, media education to critically assess the dominant media, intervening in the construction of media policy, dissemination of independent films, and curation and organisation of film festivals.
The other co-organisers are UN Women and Human Rights Law Network.
The festival in New Delhi comes a month after the one in Mumbai. Says Rangayan, “The three-day festival in Mumbai attracted a wide spectrum of audience – from social activists, filmmakers, film buffs, to students and even homemakers. In fact, there actually were not many people from the NGO sector or those working on human rights.
“It was interesting to see a middle-aged couple, who having read about the festival in a newspaper listing, came on all the three days and watched all the films. There was also a good participation of students who felt that they took back something new and unique. Everyone was moved, inspired and motivated by the films screened and the panel discussions and wanted to do something to change the human rights violations in their immediate surroundings.”
In the coming years, Rangayan wants to invite Indian filmmakers to submit films on human rights issues. “It would be fascinating to programme a twinning of an international film and an Indian film on the same issue. It provides the local issue with a global connect,” he says.
What’s the way forward? “The film festival is already marching ahead in its own steam - after the Delhi screening, all the films are scheduled for screening at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (in Mumbai) from February 5-13. So those who missed out on it in earlier can catch up. Moreover, a platform like Kala Ghoda has a really wide reach and will bring in a varied audience base; there have been numerous requests from colleges, universities and NGOs both in Mumbai and other cities like Pune to screen some of the films. It would be fantastic to take the film and the Flashpoint initiative forward. The idea is to use the films and discussion to 'ignite change'.”
