5th Tri Continental Film Festival 2009, Human Rights in Frames Breakthrough, Building Human Rights Culture New Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Kolkata
Breakthrough is proud to present the 5th Tri Continental Film Festival, India 2009. Every year we have endeavoured towards expanding the visual platform for human rights issues from the global South. This year we have 28 films from more than 20 countries. The festival will take place from 15-18 January 2009 at the India Habitat Centre as well as the Alliance Francaise de Delhi, New Delhi. The festival will then travel to Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore and Kolkata.
The festival will take place from 15-18 January 2009 at the India Habitat Centre as well as the Alliance Francaise de Delhi, New Delhi. The festival will then travel to Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore and Kolkata.
Curatorial Note
Through the cinema for Human Rights, we encounter and explore the narratives of exploitation, violence, destitution, apathy as well as internal turmoil’s of real people who are at the core of these films. This years selection will not just be representing these protagonists but also give them a voice that we are sure will resonate with our own circumstances close to home. In the present selection of films, filmmakers have negotiated and successfully handled the questions around representation and form in non-fiction, giving dignity and self-respect to all the varied characters. Providing balance and courageously putting the stories in the public domain, the filmmakers explore different film genres, from investigative to the use of fiction. A few filmmakers have also explored the role of art and art forms like performance, photography, dance and popular culture that encourage questions and reflections around social change.
There are 11 Asia premieres, 8 India premieres and one World premiere.
There are four sections in the festival this year:
Body · Public – There are six films from five countries in this section. While four are from India itself, two are co-productions from Spain/South Africa and Canada/Iran. The films explore the engagements of the human body with the public sphere and how the body comes to embody the social, political and even economic consequences in the form of curbed as well as exploited sexualities, restricted social interactions, silencing of self-expression and physical and psychological violence.
Not All in Good Faith – The seven films from nine countries probe and bring to the forefront the indignity and exploitation rendered by neo-liberal development ventures and businesses across the globe where human beings have been reduced to mere pawns.
The Line That Defines – Dwelling on the post-modern subject of border crossing this section comprises of four films from five countries. In different ways, the films trace the role of the political border in the making of a refugee, an exile or an illegal immigrant.
Zones of War – Any area marked by extreme violence can be broadly termed as a war zone. Eleven films from nine countries explore these zones of violence and aggression in various historical and contemporary circumstances around the world.
This year we had a five-member jury comprising of Aruna Vasudev (India), Nick Deocampo (Philippines), Madhusree Dutta (India), Amir Muhammad (Malaysia) and Anurag Kashyap (India). They will be deciding the winners of the Jury Award for Best Film Award as well as the Jury Special Mention Award.
The Tri Continental Film Festival began in Latin America in 2002, in Africa in 2003 and in Asia in 2004. It has become the primary platform for human rights cinema for the three continents that form part of the global South. In India, the Tri Continental began in 2004.
“The Tri-Continental Film Festival is the perfect vehicle to introduce global human rights issues to the youth in India,” said Alika Khosla, Breakthrough’s Associate Director. “Not only does it draw audiences and play to sold-out venues across the major cities, but the festival attracts thousands as it travels to campuses and small towns through the year.”
– Alika Khosla, Festival Director
“These films open up a world which many of us didn’t realize exists. I have suggested that we will support this kind of festival so that people continue to make issue based films. And I do hope in time many people would like to come here.” Said Shiela Dikshit at the inauguration of the Tri Continental Film Festival 2008.
– Shiela Dixit, Chief Minister, New Delhi
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