PSBT presents Annual International Film Festival / 11th to 17th September 09

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PSBT presents "Open Frame 2009" Annual International Film Festival at Habitat World, IHC - 11th to 17th September 09 

Time : 09:00 am to 09:00 pm

Entry : Free for Films, Click here for Registration Details for Workshops ( Open till 7th September, 2009 )

Event Details : PSBT presents '9th Open Frame Film Festival' Annual International Festival of Films, Discussions and Workshops. Apart from the fraternity of filmmakers, critics, scholars and film enthusiasts, the Festival hosts more than 350 media students who register for it.
The Open Frame has over the years provided a powerful and stimulating space for engagement with the audio visual medium, public broadcasting and significant civil society concerns. The Festival this year will explore the intricate relationship that women share with conflict and peace. It will attempt to engage with the subjectivities and commonalities of women’s experiences of conflict situations; the ways in which they understand conflict and are subjected to them; women’s roles in political processes; the formation of alliances across real and imagined borders and their role as proactive agents of resolution and lasting peace.
While showcasing the interrelated conflicts women negotiate through their multiple identities, the films will also bring forth their unique agency and view situations from their positions, bringing their perspectives to the centre stage. The films, forums and discussions will provide a wide range of perspectives from which to view the theme of the Festival.
The films showcased at the Open Frame will include PSBT films and films especially invited from around the world, including Afghanistan, Australia, China, Germany, Iran, Israel, Japan, Liberia, The Netherlands, Palestine, South Africa, UK and USA. These films have been celebrated and applauded internationally at prestigious festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, Silverdocs, Toronto, One World, Human Rights Watch, IDFA, Full Frame, Kara, Tampere, Margaret Mead, Golden Eagle, Hot Docs, Hot Springs and other Festivals.
The Festival will present Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s latest film Oru Pennum Randaanum (A Climate for Crime) and Nandita Das’s Firaaq with both filmmakers present at the Festival. The Festival is also proud to host South Asia and India Premieres of most of the international films including Courting Justice, Iron Ladies of Liberia, My Terrorist, Project Kashmir, Rough Aunties, The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo and many others.
The Open Frame will include Training Workshops and Sessions with experienced trainers on specialised aspects of documentary filmmaking, including Film Appreciation by Professor Suresh Chabria from Film and Television Institute of India and Workshops on Feminist Perspectives and Filmmaking and Conflict and Filmmaking.

Organised by : PSBT in partnership with WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace), Max Mueller Bhavan, INPUT and the India Habitat Centre.

Place : Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre ( IHC ), Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003
Parking : Gate No. 1 to 3 ( Cars ), Gate No. 2 ( Bikes & Bicycles )

STEIN AUDITORIUM, INDIA HABITAT CENTRE 
 
FRIDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER
 
10:00 am FILM APPRECIATION WORKSHOP I
SURESH CHABRIA, Film and Television Institute of India
(FOR REGISTERED PARTICIPANTS ONLY) 
The Workshop will draw attention to some aspects of cinematic narration and mise en scene with representative examples from classic and contemporary films. The classical or 'analytic-dramatic' style will be contrasted with modernist strategies of storytelling developed in contemporary cinema. It will conclude with screening-cum-discussion on two documentaries.

Suresh Chabria taught Political Science at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, before joining the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, as Professor of Film Appreciation. He was Director of the National Film Archive of India from 1992-1998 during which period he initiated several restorations and programming events showcasing Indian film heritage.  He has published several articles on cinema and a Book, Light of Asia: Indian Silent Cinema 1912-1934, that is perhaps the most authoritative publication on the subject. Associated with the Film Society Movement for more than 30 years, he is best known as a teacher and his short courses and workshops on film appreciation are much sought after.

01:00 pm BREAK
 
01:45 pm THE WOMEN’S KINGDOM | Xiaoli Zhou | China, USA | 22’

Keepers of one of the last matriarchal societies in the world, Mosuo women in a remote area of Southwest China live beyond the strictures of mainstream Chinese culture – enjoying great freedoms and carrying heavy responsibilities. This finely wrought film is a sensitive portrayal of extraordinary women struggling to hold on to their extraordinary society.

Awards and Screenings

Silver Medal, Student Academy Award
Best Editing, San Francisco Women’s Film

Audience Award for Short Documentary, Fresno Film Festival
African American Women Film Festival
San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
 
02:15 pm

SEEDS OF DISSENT | Pankaj Rishi Kumar | 49’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker)

A road movie that traces the voices of farmers along the way, from Kanyakumari to Delhi. The winds are against them. Against the people who have been feeding India. A road less travelled...

03:15 pm
REVIVING FAITH - A HIMALAYAN JOURNEY | Rishu Nigam |60’| PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker)

The Film takes its viewers into the sacred groves of the Himalayas that are still alive because of the faith of their people. It traces the struggles of the people to save their forests from being plundered, as they crumble under the pressure of countless development projects.

04:30 pm SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
A POWERFUL NOISE | Tom Cappello | USA | 90’

Hanh is an HIV-positive widow in Vietnam; Nada, a survivor of the Bosnian war and Jacqueline works the slums of Bamako, Mali. Three very different lives. Three vastly different worlds. But they share something in common: Power. These women are each overcoming gender barriers to rise up and claim a voice in their societies.
 
Awards and Screenings
Official Selection, Tribeca Film Festival
Official Selection, Silverdocs, AFI/ Discovery Channel Doc Festival
Official Selection, Global Peace Film Festival
Official Selection, Artivist Film Festival
Official Selection, Asheville Film Festival
 
06:15 pm
 DREAMS OF A 6 FIGURE SALARY | Sumit Khanna | 71’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker)

Through the stories of a few students and entrepreneurs, the Film examines the present state of higher education in India and the thrust on its privatisation. It critiques the education system, explores the avenues ahead and the gross reality in terms of opportunities that lie ahead.

07:45 pm  SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA | Daniel Junge & Siatta Scott Johnson| Liberia | 75’

After 14 years of a brutal civil war, Liberia elects its first woman President—Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, nicknamed the Iron Lady. With her predominately female cabinet, President Sirleaf struggles during her first year in office to rebuild a war-ravaged country, fight rampant corruption and prevent a descent back into war.

Awards and Screenings
Special Golden Link Award, EBU, La Rochelle
The Millennium Development Goals Award, OneWorld Media
Best Film, One World for Schools Category, One World Human Rights International Documentary Film Festival, Prague
Best Political Documentary &  Best Documentary, Banff World
Television Festival, Canada
Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival
Official Selection, International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam

SATURDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER

10:00 am  FILM APPRECIATION WORKSHOP II
SURESH CHABRIA, Film and Television Institute of India

(FOR REGISTERED PARTICIPANTS ONLY)

01:00 pm BREAK
 
02:00 pm     FRACTURED PASTS, SHARED FUTURES
|Priya Krishnaswamy |26’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker)

Made on a civil society initiative of the Dalai Lama’s Foundation for Universal Responsibility, the Film weaves together the stories of three people – to discuss the possibility of civil society movements contributing towards conflict transformation between India and Pakistan.

02:45 pm  SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
CAN YOU HEAR ME? ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN WOMEN FIGHT FOR PEACE | Lilly Rivlin | USA | 51’

The first documentary to explore in depth the role of Israeli and Palestinian women peace activists dealing with one of the world’s oldest conflicts.  These activists have worked consistently to bring an end to the bloodshed that has brought so much anguish to both sides. There is bonding, there is friction, there are differences of opinion.  But most of all it is a story about women who have hope and keep on trying to hear each other.

Awards and Screenings

Honorable Mention, Jerusalem International Film Festival
Mill Valley International Film Festival
Denver Film Festival
NCJW, Jewish Women’s Film Festival

Anchorage International Film Festival
Cinema Arts Film Festival, Huntington

03: 45 pm INDIA PREMIERE

THE ART OF FORGETTING | Lisa Kois | Sri Lanka | 56’

The Film uses the power of memory to break through the silence and statistical anonymity that characterises dominant discourses of war. Tracing a journey from the northern-most tip of Sri Lanka to the southern-most tip, it grapples with questions of political violence and memory.

04:45 pm
THE SARI SOLDIERS | Julie Bridgham | USA, Nepal | 92’

Filmed over three years during the most historic and pivotal time in Nepal’s modern history, the Film is an extraordinary story of six women’s courageous efforts to shape Nepal’s future in the midst of an escalating Maoist insurgency and the King’s crackdown on civil liberties.

Awards and Screenings

Nestor Almendros Prize, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, New York
Best Socio-Political Film, Prix Camera au Poing, RIDM, Montreal

Grand Jury Prize, Tri-Continental Film Festival, India 
Special Jury Mention, Watch Docs, Warsaw
Honorable Mention, One World Festival, Prague

06:30 pm
WOMEN MAKING PEACE
DISCUSSION (Panellists to be confirmed)

Achin Vanaik, Kamla Bhasin, Ramyata Limbu

Senain Kheshgi, Meenakshi Gopinath (Moderator)

07:45 pm
SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
PROJECT KASHMIR | Senain Kheshgi & Geeta V. Patel | USA | 88’

Two American friends from opposite sides of the divide (one a Pakistani Muslim and the other Indian Hindu), investigate the war in Kashmir through a dark and breathtaking journey into one of the world’s most beautiful and dangerous places – the Valley of Kashmir. Guided by an anonymous telephone informer and three brave Kashmiris, they navigate the treacherous maze of occupation, insurgency, unrest, censorship and religious animosity, slowly finding themselves pulled apart by their own identification with opposing factions.
Awards and Screenings

Official Selection, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, New York
Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival
Official Selection, International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam
Official Selection, One World Film Festival, Berlin
One World Film Festival, Prague
Official Selection, San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival
Official Selection, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, London

SUNDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER

10:00 am
SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE

AFGHANISTAN UNVEILED| Brigitte Brault & the Aina Women Filming Group | Afghanistan | 52’

Fourteen Afghan women journalists, the first women to be trained as reporters in their country, travel outside of Kabul to explore the after effects of Taliban rule and U.S. bombings on the women of their country. Committed to revealing these women's stories of suffering and loss to the world, the filmmakers also manage to find moving examples of hope for Afghanistan’s future.

Awards and Screenings
Berlin Film Festival

Tampere International Film Festival
Mill Valley Film Festival
Festival International de Films De Femmes de Creteil
Femme Totale International Film Festival
Copenhagen International Documentary Festival
Margaret Mead Film Festival

11:00 am  TIBETAN INSTITUTE OF PERFORMING ARTS | Nidhi Tuli & Ashraf Abbas | 37’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker/s)

INTRODUCED BY TEMPA TSERING
Representative, His Holiness The Dalai Lama
 
Who says freedom struggles are all about guns and revolution? TIPA, in Mcleodganj, is one of the oldest performing arts institute outside Tibet, where each individual, whether student or teacher has a story to tell - a story of struggle, pathos, spirituality and hope. Hope to keep Tibet alive.
 
12:00 pm       
 ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE | Nirmal Chander | 59’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker)

They left in dhows and returned on a plane. But the journey back, took over 700 years. Along the way, they lost their language and the knowledge of their native land, but retained their music and their dance – the most telling clue to their history. A  Film on the Sufi Sidis of Gujarat.

Awards and Screenings

Gold Medal, Best Sound Design, Long Documentary Section, IDPA Awards, Mumbai

Jury Special Mention, Sound Design, 2nd International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala
Special Jury Award, International Festival of Films on Tribal Art and Culture, Indore
Best Foreign Documentary Film (Raksh Marmarin), 4th Kabul International Documentary & Short Film Festival
SIGNS,  Kerala
Chicago International Movies and Music Festival
Official Selection, Film South Asia, Kathmandu
Zanzibar International Film Festival

01:15 pm  BREAK

02:30 pm COURAGE – THE ROAD SHE TRAVELS | Sanjay Barnela | 26’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker)

The Film travels into the lives of four rural women - a solar engineer, an animal healer, an ex-Sarpanch and a fourteen year old who stopped her own marriage.

03:15 pm  PASSENGERS | Nooh Nizami & Akanksha Joshi | India | 52’

Feb 27, 2002: Coach S-6 of Sabarmati Express coming from Ayodhya catches fire in Godhra and burns the entire state of Gujarat.  They are all Passengers of that journey. Aziz Pathan’s family and Harinesh Pandya’s. One a Muslim; the other, a Hindu. Nooh Nizami and Akanksha Joshi journey with the families for over a year and a half; their own lives becoming a part of the fire that spread out of the state and ignited an entire nation. Even after 6 years, embers of that fire keep flickering menacingly.
 

Awards and Screenings

Artivist Film Festival, USA
Films for Freedom, Delhi
Voices from the Fringe, Indian Festival of Amsterdam
World Social Forum, India
Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival
Persistence Resistance, New Delhi

04:15 pm PROFILES OF COURAGE AND COMPASSION
GUJARAT AFTER 5 YEARS
A PRESENTATION BY AKANKSHA JOSHI

Stories of ordinary people living in extraordinary circumstances. In Gujarat's small towns, cities and villages, common citizens - Muslims and Hindus - from whom the roots of the Indian democracy derives its unique essence: in their courageous fight for Justice and in their compassion.

COURAGE

Profiles of housewives, farmers, shopkeepers, ex-servicemen fighting for justice, for their right to a dignified life. In the absence of reconciliation at the social level, ‘compromise’, more often than not, means a compromise with one’s self-respect.

COMPASSION

Profiles of young people, old farmers, women,and children who - in a spontaneous outpouring of compassion - risked their own lives to protect their neighbours and friends. They symbolise faith and hope, not just for the divisions in Gujarat, but for the divide anywhere - in any heart.
 
Followed by Discussion   
        
 
05:15 pm  SPECIAL SCREENING
FIRAAQ | Nandita Das | India | 112’

Firaaq is an Urdu word that means both separation and quest. The story is set over a 24-hour period, one month after a carnage that took place in Gujarat in 2002. The sectarian violence killed more than 3000 Muslims, hundreds of thousands were made homeless and the number of women raped is still unknown. The Film is a work of fiction, based on a thousand stories.
 

Awards and Screenings

Best Feature Film, Kara Film Festival
The Maverick Spirit Award, 19th Cinequest Film Festival, USA
Special Prize, Thessaloniki Film Festival, Greece
Best Film, Best Screenplay and Purple Orchid Award for Best Film,Asian Festival of 1st Films
Jury Prize for Best First Film, Kerala International Film Festival
Special Jury Prize, Istanbul International Film Festival
Grand Jury Prize Honorable Mention for Best Narrative Feature, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles

Followed by Q & A with Filmmaker

MONDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER

10:00 am
NO! THE RAPE DOCUMENTARY | Aishah Shahidah Simmons | USA | 94’
This internationally acclaimed documentary explores the international reality of rape, other forms of sexual violence and healing through the first person testimonies, scholarship, spirituality, and activism of leading African-American scholars, theologians, human rights activists, and artists.

Awards and Screenings
Best Documentary, India International Women's Film Festival
Audience Choice Award & Juried Award, San Diego Women Film Festival
Les Mois du Film Documentaire (Guadeloupe)
Femmes du Resistance Documentary Film Festival, France
Filmmor International Women's Film Festival, Turkey
Detroit Women of Color International Film Festival

11:30 am
THE ASIATIC LION – ON A ROLL CALL | Praveen Singh | 26’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker)

The Asiatic Lion faces its biggest crisis in decades. Poaching and increasing conflict with people due to the limited habitat of Gir threatens to undo years of conservation. Does the Asiatic Lion have an alternative?

12:15 pm  SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
BLOODLINES | Cynthia Connop| Australia, USA, Germany | 52’

A moving meditation on guilt and reconciliation, this Film explores the unwritten cost of war and genocide on future generations – of both victims and perpetrators. Bettina Goering, descendent of Nazi war criminal Herman Goering, comes to Australia to meet Ruth Rich, artist and the daughter of Holocaust survivors. With astonishing honesty and courage, both women attempt to reconcile the traumas in their bloodlines.
 
Awards and Screenings
Official Selection, Activating Human Rights Film Festival, Australia

Official Selection, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, USA
Official Selection, Kassel Documentary Film Festival, Germany
Official Selection, Jewish Eye World Film Festival, Israel
Official Selection, Houston Jewish Film Festival
Official Selection, Vancouver Jewish Film Festival
 
01:15 pm
BREAK

02:00 am LADY KUL EL ARAB | Ibtisam Mara'ana | Israel | 56’

Duah, a Druze Arab girl from Jerusalem, is already a finalist for the local “Lady of the Arabs” beauty pageant for Israeli-Arab women when she sets her sights on the Miss Israel competition. Duah finds herself in the middle of a complicated conflict in which the tradition and values of her society clash with her brave efforts to choose her own way in life. Set out as a glamorous film about a beauty pageant, the Film turned into a moving story of a family caught between cultures and an agonising struggle that soon involves her community, and indeed the whole country.

Awards and Screenings
Special Jury Award, IDFA Silver Wolf Competition, The Netherlands

Best Documentary, Sole & Luna International Documentary Film Festival, Italy
Best Documentary, Mediterranean Film Section, Sole & Luna International Film Festival, Italy
Best Documentary, Zagreb International Documentary Film Festival, Croatia
Special Mention, Sguardi Altrove International Women Film Festival, Italy
Best Direction, New Delhi International Women Film Festival, India

03:00 pm  SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
LIONESS | Meg McLagan & Daria Sommers | USA | 82’

Lioness tells the story of a group of women Army support soldiers who were part of the first programme in American history to send women into direct ground combat. Without the same training as their male counterparts but with a commitment to serve as needed, these young women fought in some of the bloodiest counterinsurgency battles of the Iraq war and returned home as part of the country’s first generation of female combat veterans. Lioness makes public, for the first time, their hidden histories.

Awards and Screenings

Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award, Full Frame Film Festival

Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Film, Vietnam Veterans of American
Military Families Filmmaker Award, GI Film Festival
Official Selection, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

Official Selection, Tribeca Film Festival
Independent Film Festival, Boston
Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival
Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival
 
 
04:30 pm   SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
A VIDA POLITICA | Katrina Mansoor | UK, Brazil | 12’

A series of creative films exploring the activism of 4 Brazilian women, as they demonstrate innovative ways of bringing hidden issues into the political public domain.
 
Awards and Screenings

The Davis Feminist Film festival
SXSW - South by Southwest Film Festival
Lunafest
Birds Eye View
Discovering Latin America Film Festival

04:45 pm IN CAMERA | Ranjan Palit | 52’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker)

A film about the filmmaker’s experiences, as a cameraperson for documentary films and his reflections on the profession after 25 years of image-making. 
 
06:00 pm COMMEMORATING 50 YEARS OF PUBLIC TELEVISION

Ambika Soni, Minister for Information and Broadcasting
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Shyam Benegal

Fali Nariman

Raghu Menon, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

MORALITY TV AND THE LOVING JEHAD | Paromita Vohra |30’ | PSBT & DD

The film looks outside the frames that weave the frenetic tapestry of Breaking News on India’s news channels. To uncover a town’s complex dynamics – the fear of love, the constant scrutiny and control of women’s mobility and sexuality, a history of communal violence, caste brutalisation and feudal mindsets.
 
Awards and Screenings

Best Short Documentary, 1st International Video Festival of Kerala

7:30 pm  NEW FILM                           
ORU PENNUM RANDAANUM (A CLIMATE FOR CRIME) |

Adoor Gopalakrishnan | India | 115’

Supported by Doordarshan

A film about crime in different contexts and situations.

Awards and Screenings

Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Scenarist, Best Sound Recording and Second Best Female Actor, Kerala State Film Awards

TUESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER

10:00 am INPUT PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION

ABHIJIT DAS GUPTA, National Coordinator, INPUT
SUBRAMANIAM V. RAMAN, Programme Officer, Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata

MUKTI (SALVATION) | Ehteshamuddin | Pakistan | 45’ | INPUT

On his death bed, a Sikh father confesses to his son that maddened by love he not only forcibly converted his mother from Islam to Sikhism but also lied to her that her Muslim husband and daughter had been killed in the riots. But this, the dying father said, had always weighed upon his conscience. Therefore, he asks the son to take his mother to Pakistan to meet her husband and her daughter. This comes as a blow to the son but in order to give Mukti (salvation) to his father’s soul, he takes his mother to Pakistan and goes through strange emotional and cultural experiences.

DIVORCE ALBANIAN STYLE | Adela Peeva | Bulgaria| 66’ | INPUT

This story of love and separation takes place in the surreal world of 1960s communist Albania. As told by survivors of this extraordinary period, Divorce Albanian style reveals the experience of the many thousands of families that were forcibly separated by the totalitarian regime of Enver Hodja, the longest-serving European Dictator of the 20th century.

01:00 pm
BREAK
 
02:00 pm SHAHIDA: BRIDES OF ALLAH | Natalie Assouline | Israel | 75’ | INPUT

The Film chronicles the lives of women, in prison for involvement in failed suicide attacks. Filmed over two years, this portrait strives to unearth the motivations behind their crimes.

Awards and Screenings

FIPRESCI Award, Berlin International Film Festival, Forum, Germany
Special Prize, "Communication for Life", Prix Italia, Cagliari, Italy

03:45 pm SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO | Lisa F. Jackson | USA, Democratic Republic of the Congo | 77’

Shot in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this documentary is the first film to break the silence that surrounds the tens of thousands of women and girls who have been systematically kidnapped, raped and tortured in that country’s intractable civil war. The filmmaker talks with activists, ministers, peacekeepers, physicians and with the perpetrators themselves. She goes to homes, hospitals and churches, travelling to remote villages in the mountains of Eastern Congo to meet rape survivors who have often been shamed and abandoned. These brave women come forward to tell their stories and provide a piercing and intimate look into the horror, struggle and ultimate grace of their lives.

Awards and Screenings
Special Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival

Best of Fest, London Human Rights Watch Film Festival
Outstanding Documentary, Rome Independent Film Festival
Gracie Award, Outstanding Documentary - Long Format
Best of Fest, One World Slovakia Doc Film Festival
Best Human Rights Watch Documentary, International Black DocuFest
Best Documentary, Roma Independent Film Festival
Best Documentary, Reel Awareness Amnesty International Human Rights Film Festival
Emmy Award Nominee for Outstanding Informational Programming: Long Form and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Craft-Writing

05:15 pm  SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
FIGHTING THE SILENCE | Ilse & Femke van Velzen | Netherlands | 53’

During the Democratic Republic of Congo’s seven year war, more than 80,000 women and girls were raped.  The Film tells the story of ordinary women and men struggling to change their society: one that prefers to blame victims rather than prosecute rapists.  Survivors tell of the brutality they experienced. Husbands talk of the pressures that led them to abandon their wives. Soldiers and policemen share their (shocking) views about why rape continues to flourish in Congo despite the war having officially ended four years ago.
 
Awards and Screenings
First Prize, Watch Docs Human Rights Film Festival
Jury   Award, Human Rights Film Festival, Bolivia
Human Rights Award, Docupolis International Documentary Film Festival of Barcelona
Aljazeera Jury Award, Aljazeera International Film Festival, Qatar
Official Selection, London International Documentary Festival
International Human Rights Film Festival, Germany
 
 
06:15 pm  SEXUAL VIOLENCE AS A WEAPON OF WAR
DISCUSSION
(Panellists to be confirmed)

Farah Naqvi, Nivedita Menon, Siddharth Varadarajan

Uma Chakravarti, Ritu Menon (Moderator)

07:30 pm SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
ROUGH AUNTIES | Kim Longinotto | UK | 103’

Fearless, feisty and resolute, the "Rough Aunties" are a remarkable group of women unwavering in their stand to protect and care for the abused, neglected and forgotten children of Durban, South Africa. This Documentary follows the outspoken, multiracial cadre of Thuli, Mildred, Sdudla, Eureka and Jackie, as they wage a daily battle against systemic apathy, corruption and greed to help the most vulnerable and disenfranchised of their communities.
 

Awards and Screenings 
Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema Documentary, Sundance Film Festival
Best Feature Doc, Big Sky Film Festival, USA
Best Documentary, Bahrain Film Festival
Honourable Mention, Krakow Film Festival, Poland
Amnesty International Human Rights Award, Durban International Film Festival, South Africa
Top Ten Audience Favourite, Hot Docs
Dokfest, Germany
Full Frame Film Festival

Yamagata Film Festival, Japan

 

WEDNESDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER

 

 
10:00 am SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
LOVE SNATCHED | Gita Sahgal | UK | 30’

The Film tells the stories of several young peoples’ fight for freedom. Shipa and Sufian were nearly prevented from marrying. Anisha was abducted away from her boyfriend John and compelled to marry. Narina describes her remarkable escape from the threat of a forced marriage, along with her two sisters.

 
10:30 am
 SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
LOVE HONOUR AND DISOBEY | Saeeda Khanum | UK | 61’

Love Honour and Disobey tells the story of domestic violence in Britain's black and ethnic minority communities through the eyes of the Southall Black Sisters.

 

 

Awards and Screenings
XIV Barcelona International Women Film Festival, Barcelona
London Feminist Network Film Festival
Femmes en Resistance, Arcueil, France
DerHumALC Internacional Film Festival on Human Rights, Buenos Aires

 

 
11:40 am  I WONDER… | Anu Srinivasan | 71’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker)

What does school mean to children? What kind of learning takes place within the school and outside it? The Film explores how the school system is impacting the lives, thoughts and dreams of children lying at the extremities of the country.

Awards and Screenings
Official Selection, New Asian Currents, Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 
 
01:15 pm BREAK

02:00 pm  
BEHIND FORGOTTEN EYES | Anthony Gilmore | USA, Japan, South Korea | 76’

The Film tells the experiences of the estimated 200,000 comfort women from South-Korea, Taiwan, China, Burma and the Philippines who were systematically raped and abused as sex slaves by the Japanese imperial armed forces during the Second World War. Shame prevented them to talk. For decades, the Japanese government has denied any responsibility for this large-scale, institutionalised sex slavery. Half a century later, a few of these women have found the courage to tell their stories.

Awards and Screenings

Best Documentary - Juror Award, Melbourne International Independent Film Festival
Best Film, Kern Projection's Film Festival
Best Film at Conflict and Resolution Competition, Hamptons International Film Festival

03:15 pm 
SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
PEACE X PEACE: WOMEN ON THE FRONTLINES | Patricia Smith Melton & Lisa Hepner | USA | 86’

Filmed on four continents and narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Jessica Lange, the Film tells the stories of women around the world who are building the foundations of peace.

Awards and Screenings
Golden Eagle Cine Award
Best Documentary Aurora Award
Best Documentary, Wreck-Beach International Film Festival, Toronto

04:45 pm SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
WOMEN IN STRUGGLE | Buthina Canaan Khoury | Palestine | 56’

A rare testimony from four female Palestinian ex-prisoners who disclose their experiences during their years of imprisonment in Israeli jails and the effect it has had on their present and future lives. Their painful recollections provide a fascinating personal perspective on their motives for political involvement, reveal their struggles in prison and define the difficulties they have faced and continue to face adjusting to life in Palestinian society.

Awards and Screenings
Best Documentary & Jury Mention, AlIsmailia Film Festival, Egypt
Best Documentary, American Muslim Women Association
Best Documentary, San Diego Women Film Festival
 
06:00 pm
THE FEMALE NUDE | Hem Jyotika & Devi Prasad Mishra | 26’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker/s)

The story of a model who poses nude for painters and artists for contemptibly small amounts. Despite being the subject of their art, ironically, she is never invited to any of the exhibitions...

06:45 pm
 A SHORT FILM ABOUT… | Divya Sachar | 30’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker)

A look at how some urban Indian women view their breasts. Affected by other’s perceptions, women mostly find themselves looking at their breasts through a male perspective. Whether in the form of media images of impossible perfection or an adolescent need to gain male approval and attention or just the opposite - to repel male advances - the male gaze is ever present in one form or the other.

07:30 pm   SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
COURTING JUSTICE | Created by Ruth Cowan & Directed by Jane Thandi Lipman  | South Africa | 68’
                   
Fourteen years after the defeat of apartheid, South Africa’s fledgling democracy is acclaimed for its constitutional promise of comprehensive human rights and unprecedented judicial reform. Courting Justice takes viewers behind the gowns and gavels to reveal the women who make up 18 per cent of South Africa’s male-dominated judiciary. Hailing from diverse backgrounds and entrusted with enormous responsibilities, these pioneering women share with candour, and unexpected humour, accounts of their country’s transformation since apartheid, and the evolving demands of balancing their courts, country and families.

Awards and Screenings                           
Audience Award, Durban International Film Festival
UNIFEM Women's International Film Festival
Encounters: South African International Documentary Festival
Parliament Film Festival, South Africa
International Images Film Festival for Women

THURSDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER

10:00 am    MY FEMINISM | Dominique Cardona & Laurie Colbert | Canada | 55’

In an era of anti-feminist backlash, this articulate documentary forcefully reminds us that the revolution continues. Powerful interviews with feminist leaders including Bell Hooks, Gloria Steinem and Urvsahi Vaid are intercut with documentary sequences to engagingly explore the past and present status of the women's movements.

Awards and Screenings
Best Female Canadian Directors, Images Festival, Toronto,
Best Feature Documentary, Washington DC International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
Montréal World Film Festival

Verzaubert International Queer Film Festival

11:00 am
SIMPLE PRESENT FUTURE PERFECT | Nandini Bedi | 26’ | PSBT

‘It is not that we are not knowing English. It is just that we are knowing it in our own way only. Please tell your name.’
Apparently there are ways and ways to speak English, and still be clearly understood. And Indian English is one of them. Vast numbers of people are hungry to join the English bandwagon and thousands of ‘English training schools’ are proliferating the landscape. There is no one standard for the teaching of English. A school in Mumbai is flamboyant in imparting the ‘Indian Variant of English’. Welcome to the brave new India of today.

11:30 am
SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
AUDITION | Nelofer Pazira | Canada | 57’

When Afghan-Canadian director Nelofer Pazira returns to Bamiyan, Afganistan, she decides to audition locals for a film. The men are eager, enthusiastically laughing and dying on command. The women are intrigued, but reticent, fearing retribution. When they do perform, it is with riveting authenticity. Pazira asks the men and women pointed questions, challenging their preconceptions and renegotiating the balance of power and control.
 
12:30 pm CHOTI SI ASHA | Usha Albuquerque | 30’ | PSBT
(Followed by discussion with Filmmaker)

The Film documents the initiative of the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, to include a learning centre among its other activities, in order to expose underprivileged children to information technology and help them explore better options for an improved quality of life.

01:15 pm
BREAK

02:15 pm NO MORE TEARS SISTER | Helene Klodawsky | Canada | 79’

A story of love, revolution and betrayal, the Film explores the price of truth in times of war. Set during the violent ethnic conflict that has enveloped Sri Lanka over decades, the documentary recreates the courageous and vibrant life of renowned human rights activist Dr Rajani Thiranagama. Mother, anatomy professor, author and symbol of hope, Rajani was assassinated at the age of thirty-five.

Awards and Screenings
Honorable Mention, Chris Awards, Columbus International Film Festival, USA
Second Prize, Tri Continental Film Festival, India
Spirit of Freedom Award Best Documentary, Jerusalem International Film Festival
Best Cinematography, Gemini Awards, Academy of Canadian Cinema
Nomination, Best Social/Political Documentary, Academy of Canadian Cinema
Cine Eagle Award, USA
One of Ten Audience Pics at Hot Docs International Documentary Festival

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

03:45 pm MY HOME-YOUR WAR | Kylie Grey | Australia, Iraq | 52’

An extraordinary look at the effect of the Iraq war through the eyes of an ordinary Iraqi woman. Shot in Baghdad over three years that span the time before, during and after the invasion of Iraq, this profoundly moving Film brings a perspective that – until now – has rarely been available to audiences.

Awards and Screenings
Gold World Medal, Best Documentary, New York
Best International Documentary, European Independent Film Festival
Best Documentary – Social & Political Issues, Australian TV Atom Awards
Best Documentary – Human Story, Australian TV Atom Awards 
 
04:45 pm   SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
MY TERRORIST | Yulie Cohen | Israel | 58’

Fahad Mihyi, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Yulie Cohen, a sixth-generation Israeli, first met in August 1978, when Mihyi pointed a machine gun at the El Al flight attendant in a terrorist attack. Twenty-three years later, in an effort to help break the cycle of violence, Yulie considers writing a letter in support of Mihyi's parole, thus thrusting herself into the turbulent world of Middle East politics.

Awards and Screenings
Special Jury Prize, Jerusalem Film Festival
Silver Wolf Nomination, Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival
Official Selection, Human Rights Watch Film Festival
Official Selection, San Francisco International Film Festival
Official Selection, One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival
Official Selection, Encounters South African International Documentary Festival
Official Selection, Seattle, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver Jewish Film Festivals
Official Selection, Seoul Human Rights Watch Film Festival

05:45 pm    
SOUTH ASIA PREMIERE
(UN)VEILED: MUSLIM WOMEN TALK ABOUT HIJAB |

Ines Hofmann Kanna | USA, UAE | 36’

(Un)veiled introduces the audience to ten Muslim women from various backgrounds who now live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  Their discussion about hijab, the headscarf, revolves around a lecture on the same topic that was banned at the last minute but delivered anyway.  In a time when Islam and especially Muslim women are represented as monolithic and beset by backwardness, the women show the diverse, lively, argumentative debates in Muslim societies about the meanings of modernity, emancipation and feminism.

Awards and Screenings

Second Jury Prize, Black Maria Film Festival
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Women's International Film Festival, Miami

06:30 pm    THEY CALL ME MUSLIM | Diana Ferrero | Italy, France, Iran | 27’

In popular imagination, a Muslim woman in a veil – or hijab – is a symbol of Islamic oppression. But what does it mean for women’s freedom when a democratic country forbids the wearing of the veil? This provocative documentary portrays the struggle of two women – one in France and one in Iran – to express themselves freely.

Awards and Screenings
Bellaria Film Festival, Premio Avanti
Sguardi Altrove International Film Festival, Concorso Italia
Tri Continental Film Festival, South Africa
San Diego Women's Film Festival
Michigan Women's Film Festival
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, Boston and New York
Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival

07:00 pm     
GENDER, HIJAB AND IDENTITY
DISCUSSION

(Panellists to be confirmed)

Shabnam Hashmi, Syeda Hameed

Urvashi Butalia, Zahid Ansari

Patricia Uberoi (Moderator)

08:00 pm  ANWAR: DREAM OF A DARK NIGHT | Anwar Jamal |60’ | PSBT                   
(Filmmaker present)

The Film explores the tenacity of the human spirit, through the story of Anwar, a migrant to Delhi, who achieves his dream of making a theatre in his village by working a range of jobs.

 

PSBT presents "Open Frame 2009" Annual International Film Festival at Habitat World, IHC - 11th to 17th September 09