Vikalp Screenings : 'My Country My Country'
Dear All,
Greetings from Vikalp@Prithvi !
Vikalp@Prithvi is a monthly series of documentaries and shorts brought to you by Vikalp:Films For Freedom in Collaboration with Prithvi Theatre.
On Monday 28th May, 2007 at 7 p.m., we show Oscar Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature 'My Country My Country' filmed by Laura Poitras.
All are invited! Please post widely and forward to friends and colleagues!
Regards
Vikalp@Prithvi
For Screening Information Contact:
Anand Patwardhan 9819882244 Lynne Henry 9820896425
………………………………………………………………………………
VIKALP: Films for Freedom
In collaboration with Prithvi Theatre
Presents
MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY
A Film by Laura Poitras
(Nominee, Oscar Awards)
(Nominee, Independent Spirit Award)
On
Monday, 28 th May, 7 pm
At Prithvi House,
Opp Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Mumbai 400049.
More information is available through
www.prithvitheatre.org / vikalp.prithvi@gmail.com
*ENTRY FREE, LIMITED SEATS.
*REGISTER AT CONTACT DESK BETWEEN 6 P.M and 6:45 PM.
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MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY
Laura Poitras/USA/2006/90 mins
In Arabic, English, and Kurdish with English subtitles
Working alone in Iraq over eight months, director/cinematographer Laura Poitras creates an extraordinarily intimate portrait of Iraqis living under U.S. occupation. Her principal focus is Dr. Riyadh, an Iraqi medical doctor, father of six and Sunni political candidate. An outspoken critic of the occupation, he is equally passionate about the need to establish
democracy in Iraq, arguing that Sunni participation in the January 2005 elections is essential. Yet all around him, Dr. Riyadh sees only chaos, as his waiting room fills each day with patients suffering the physical and mental effects of ever-increasing violence. Dramatically interwoven into the personal journey of Dr. Riyadh is the landscape of the US military occupation, with Australian private security contractors, American journalists and the UN officials who orchestrate the elections. Unfolding like a narrative drama, MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY follows the agonizing predicament and gradual descent of one man caught in the tragic contradictions of the U.S. occupation of Iraq and its project to spread democracy in the Middle East.
Dr.Riyadh at the Abu Ghraib Prison
"Oh My Country"
Original Music Score by Kadhum Al Sahir
"Oh my country, may you have a happy morning.
Reunite everyone; heal your wounds.
I yearn to see you smile some day,
When will sadness set you free?..."
About the Filmmaker
LAURA POITRAS (Director / Producer / Camera / Editor) received a Peabody Award for her last documentary, FLAG WARS (2003). FLAG WARS received numerous other awards, including Best Documentary at the 2003 SXSW Film Festival, Best Documentary, Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and the Filmmaker Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. FLAG WARS had its U.S. television premiere on PBS's P.O.V. documentary series and was nominated for both a 2004 Independent Spirit Award and a 2004 Emmy Award. Laura's past work include OH SAY CAN YOU SEE...? (2003), and EXACT FANTASY (1995). She studied filmmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute and the New School. Before making films, she worked as a chef. She currently resides in New York City
Awards
Inspiration Award, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Best Long Documentary, Flahertiana Film Festival, Russia
Human Rights Award, Durban International Film Festival
Henry Hampton Award, Council on Foundations Film & Video Festival
More information on the film available on
www.mycountrymycountry.com / www.zeitgeistfilms.com
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About Vikalp:Films For Freedom
The History: In recent years we have seen riotous mobs burn books, destroy paintings, attack artists, tear down cinemas, rip apart ancient manuscripts and make a mockery of all our constitutional safeguards. The state itself has institutionalized censorship through its Central Board of Film Certification and its counterpart in the world of theatre. Documentary filmmakers have specially borne the brunt of censorship. As the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) 2004 approached, the then government knew that many films on the Gujarat carnage exposing the ruling party's complicity could embarrass it on an international stage. Overnight a new clause was introduced stating that while foreign films remained exempt, all Indian films would require a censor certificate. Even as over 275 filmmakers united and threatened to boycott MIFF, official censorship was withdrawn, but a dubious backdoor selection procedure excluded some of the best new Indian films dealing with subjects like communalism, caste, gender, sexuality and the environment.
The best way to fight back was to screen the 'rejected' films. So VIKALP: Films for Freedom was born. Many filmmakers whose films were selected for MIFF withdrew their work to screen them at VIKALP. Girish Karnad stepped down from the MIFF jury. Filmmakers pooled in their resources and found a perfect venue right across from MIFF at Bhupesh Gupta Bhawan, whose solidarity was unconditional and whose hall came free. Acoustic problems were overcome by curtains and mattresses. Volunteers poured in and the buzz was electric. Despite word of mouth publicity we had packed houses every day. VIKALP opened with an excerpt from Sadaat Hasan Manto's ' Safed Jhoot', an indictment of censorship and hypocrisy, performed by Jamil Khan, directed by Naseeruddin Shah. From this high, we never came down. For 6 days rapt audiences saw and debated over 50 films and participated in panel discussions on censorship. Across the street every official MIFF bulletin and meeting denounced VIKALP and swore innocence to the charge of censorship. But we were getting across. From juries to filmmakers and audience members, the ranks of the disbelievers kept growing - as they must. For an assault on freedom of expression does not affect filmmakers alone. It is an assault on democracy itself.
The Present: Following this breakthrough we continue to do monthly screenings at Bhupesh Gupta Bhawan. This success has led to collaborations with other venues like Aavishkar in Mahim and Readers Shop in Santa Cruz for monthly screenings. Film-makers in Delhi and Bangalore organize regular screenings in their respective cities. Selections of 'Vikalp' films have traveled to other parts of the country and occasionally to other parts of the world. Now we begin a new collaboration from March 2007 to do screenings at Prithvi, Juhu, on the last Monday of each month at 7 PM.
Bhupesh Gupta Bhavan, Diagonally Opp Ravindra Natya Mandir, 85 Sayani Road, Prabhadevi. Mumbai 400025.
Labels: Movie
posted by Aditya Swarup at
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