First Ever

Film Southasia

Film southasia 2024
sUBMISSIONS OPEN JANUARY 2024

Kathmandu | 4 days

The organisers of the first-ever festival of Subcontinental documentaries were delighted about both the quality of works submitted, as well as their representativeness of the Southasian region as a whole. The number of filmmakers who attended the festival also encouraged us to contemplate this as a regular biennial festival, one which will help in improving the audience and market for documentaries in the region.

The primary criteria for selection of films for the festival was the subject: the films could be made by anyone (including non- Southasians), but must be about Southasia or Southasians. Beyond this, the selection panel went first by overall excellence in filmmaking. It then also considered the representativeness of the films, in terms of region as well as subject area.

Selection

Selections

Altogether 135 films were submitted to Film Southasia ’97. Fifty-five were selected for final exhibition. The 51 films in the competitive section were made after January 1995; four were in the non-competitive section.

A rough categorization of the films shown reveals the following: 20 were social commentary; one was historical; nine were about personalities; nine on environmental subjects; 10 were ethnographic portrayals; and five fell in other categories. Dividing up the films by country, 36 films were from India, six from Pakistan, four from Bangladesh, four from Nepal, and two from Sri Lanka. The division did not take into consideration films that are cross border in coverage. However, looking at the geographical rather than country-wise distribution of the films being shown, we saw that the 55 films do cover all of Southasia, representing both the geographical regions as well as the urban and rural centres. It is for this reason that the organisers of FSA were able to confidently say that the first festival of Southasian documentaries was ‘representative’ of the Subcontinent.

135 submissions

55 selections

Selections - FSA'97

A La Khate

Life and struggles of the young waste pickers in Kathmandu

Year: 1997
Length: 24 min
Country: Nepal
Language: Nepali
Director: Morten Nielsen, Frantz Rosenberg, Nenna Brinck

A Narmada Diary

A five year chronicle of the history of the Narmada Bachai Andolan (Save Narmada Movement)

Year: 1995
Length: 57 min
Country: India
Language: English, Hindi, Gujurati
Director: Anand Patwardhan, Simantini Dhuru

Aadavallu Ekmaite

True events surrounding the revolt of the government sale of liquor in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh

Year: 1996
Length: 80 min
Country: India
Language: English, Telugu
Director: Shabnam Virmani

Aan Poove (Male Flower)

Young Sheethalakshmi discovers she is slowly becoming a male child renamed Sreedharan.

Year: 1995
Length: 20 min
Country: India
Language: Malayalam
Director: P. Balan

Achin Pakhi (The Unknown Bard)

The life of Lalon Fakir, the mysterious bard.

Year: 1995
Length: 67 min
Country: Bangladesh
Language: Bengali
Director: Tanvir Mokammel

Ajit

Eight-year-old Ajit exemplifies the failure of the Indian system to provide the basics of life to majority of the Indian people

Year: 1996
Length: 28 min
Country: India
Language: Hindi
Director: Arvind Sinha

Alif Be

The story of three young Muslims girls and the trust that sponsors their education.

Year: 1997
Length: 40 min
Country: India
Language: Marathi, Hindi
Director: Nandini Bedi

All Alone If Need Be

A film about Srat Chandra Sinda, a former cheif minister of Assam and a face in the crowd.

Year: 1996
Length: 20 min
Country: India
Language: Assamese
Director: Ranjit Das

Amrit Beeja

Celebrating the age-old knowledge of “Vrikshyaaryuveda”, the ancient plant science

Year: 1996
Length: 43 min
Country: India
Language: English
Director: Meera Dewan

An India Story

An enquiry into the suppression of civil and democratic rights in the world’s ‘largest democracy.”

Year: 1980
Length: 58 min
Country: India
Language: English
Director: Tapan Bose

Ashgari Bai (Echoes Of Silence)

Following the oldest exponent of the dying art of ‘Dhrupad’, the most orthodox form of Indian classical music,.

Year: 1997
Length: 45 min
Country: India
Language: Hindi
Director: Piti Chaudriani, Brahmamonda Singh

Aur Woh Raks Karte Rahi

About Tehreema Mitha, a Pakistani classical dancer one of the few serious choreographers and trained dancers in in the country

Year: 1996
Length: 60 min
Country: Pakistan
Language: Urdu
Director: Shireen Pasha

Babus of Bagkok

A travelogue through the lives of Indian migrants from Gorakhpur living in Bangkok

Year: 1997
Length: 26 min
Country: Thailand
Language: English, Thai
Director: Satya Sivaraman

Bereavement

An exploration into the diverse ways bereavement as a result of civil war has impinged on ethnic groups in Sri-Lanka

Year: 1995
Length: 30 min
Country: Sri Lanka
Language: English
Director: Sharmini Boyle

Creeks Of Conflict

Impact of unfettered development in India on the environment and the indigenous population

Year: 1996
Length: 40 min
Country: India
Language: English
Director: Krishnendu Bose

Darubrahma (God’s Own Tree)

Nakalevara – Death and rebirth of Darubarhma Jagannath

Year: 1997
Length: 138 min
Country: India
Language: English, Oriya
Director: Sudheer Gupta

Dhupang – Ni Solo (An Autumn Fable)

Tales of a land torn apart by violence

Year: 1997
Length: 45 min
Country: India
Language: Bodo
Director: Pinky Barhma Choudhury

Dry Days In Dobbagunta

Rural women’s successful movement in Andhrapradesh to force the state to declare prohibition of alcohol

Year: 1996
Length: 11 min
Country: India
Language: English, Kannada, Telugu
Director: Nupur Basu

Fate Worse Than Tragedy

Floods in Bangladesh and the strategies used to cope with them.

Year: 1996
Length: 48 min
Country: Bangladesh
Language: English
Director: Bjorn Vassnes

Father, Son and Holy War

An exploration of manhood and male insecurity in Indian community and its connection to communal violence.

Year: 1997
Length: 120 min
Country: India
Language: Marathi, Hindi
Director: Anand Patwardhan

Free To Sing? The Music Of Suman Chatterjee

A Bengali politcal singer’s persecution and fame

Year: 1996
Length: 56 min
Country: India
Language: English, Bengali
Director: Sudipto Chatterjee

Freedom from Fear

A filmmaker’s attempt to understand the past, present and future of life in Kashmir and his experiences these.

Year: 1997
Length: 25 min
Country: India
Language: English
Director: Indraneel Kaul

Halfway Home

The stories of 249 “non-criminal lunatics” and the brutalities they endured while imprisoned.

Year: 1995
Length: 26 min
Country: India
Language: English, Bengali
Director: Ananya Chatterjee

Hastir Kanya (The Elephant Girl)

The life and achievements of Pratima Barua Panday, one of the most celebrated folk singers of Assam

Year: 1996
Length: 53 min
Country: India
Language: Assamese
Director: Prabin Hazarika

Hawa Kay Naam (Faces Of Eve)

Lives and struggles of women in the mountains of Pakistan

Year: 1996
Length: 25 min
Country: Pakistan
Language: Urdu
Director: Shireen Pasha

Himalayan Herders

Life in a Buddhist temple at 8500 feet

Year: 1997
Length: 76 min
Country: Nepal
Language: Yolmo
Director: John Bishop, Naomi Bishop

I Am Not A Toy

Understanding issues related to child development in South Asia

Year: 1996
Length: 25 min
Country: Pakistan
Language: Urdu
Director: Mushtaq Gazdar

I LIVE IN BEHRAMPADA

Life in Behrampada after the Mumbai communal riots of 1992 and 1993

Year: 1993
Length: 46 min
Country: India
Language: English, Hindi
Director: Madhushree Dutta

Ka Phor Sorat (Cremation Ceremony)

Documenting the dying cremation ceremony of the Lyngngams or Megam sub-tribe of Meghalaya

Year: 1997
Length: 33 min
Country: India
Language: English
Director: Raphael Warjri

Kahankar: Ahankar

Story Maker: Story Taker – Brings together stories and painting of the Warlis community indegenous to Maharastra

Year: 1995
Length: 38 min
Country: India
Language: English
Director: Anjali Monteiro, KP Jayasankar

Lepchas Of Sikkim: A Vanishing Tribe?

Understanding issues related to child development in South Asia

Year: 1997
Length: 20 min
Country: India
Language: English
Director: Kesang Tseten

LIVING TOGETHER

A look at three local communities of multi-ethnic composition across Sri Lanka

Year: 1996
Length: 24 min
Country: Sri Lanka
Language: Sinhala
Director: Anoma Rajakaruna

Marubhumi

Story of water in Rajasthan

Year: 1995
Length: 52 min
Country: India
Language: Hindi
Director: Amar Kanwar

Meals Ready

Exploring the rice markets of South India from a socio-economic perspective

Year: 1996
Length: 46 min
Country: India
Language: English, Tamil
Director: Vani Subramanian, Surajit Sarkar

Mr. Jinnah: The Making Of Pakistan

Story of Ahammed Ali Jinnah and the founding of Pakistan

Year: 1997
Length: 90 min
Country: India, Pakistan
Language: English, Urdu
Director: Christopher Mitchell

Muktir Gaan (Song Of Freedom)

Exploring the influence of of music and song as a source of inspiration in Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971

Year: 1995
Length: 80 min
Country: Bangladesh
Language: Bengali
Director: Tareque Masud, Catherine Masud

Nusrat Has Left The Building…But When?

This dialogue less film charts the flowering and decay of Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn’s musical soul

Year: 1997
Length: 20 min
Country: Pakistan
Language: N/A
Director: Farjad Nai

Om Mani Padme Hum (Jewel In The Lotus)

Day-to-day life in a 300-year-old monastery in Arunachal Pradesh

Year: 1996
Length: 53 min
Country: India
Language: English, Tibten, Monpa
Director: Mahadeb Shi

Pastoral Politics

The sheep-herding Gaddi community of Himachal and ecological debate on their way of life

Year: 1996
Length: 29 min
Country: India
Language: English
Director: Sanjay Barnela, Vasant Saberwal

Red Earth

Unraveling the wrestling way of life – as the wrestlers become ‘real men.’

Year: 1995
Length: 48 min
Country: India
Language: English, Hindi
Director: Rahul Roy

Sacrifice Of Serpents: The Festival Of Indrayani

The Newars of Kathmandu celebrate Indrayani and sacrifice of live serpents into the sacrificial fire.

Year: 1997
Length: 108 min
Country: Nepal
Language: English
Director: Dirk J Nijland, Balgopal Shrestha, Bert van den Hoek

Snakes And Snake Charmers

The lives and activities of snake charmers and the story behind their origins

Year: 1996
Length: 25 min
Country: Pakistan
Language: English
Director: Nazimuddin

Sonamati (A Very Ordinary Gold)

Sona Bai leads a group of women fighting for their land in Bikaner, Rajasthan

Year: 1996
Length: 38 min
Country: India
Language: Marwari
Director: Sehjo Singh

Taj Mahal - Not A Love Story

Saving the Taj Mahal and the costs of protecting monuments

Year: 1996
Length: 28 min
Country: India
Language: English
Director: Ramesh Menon

TEYYAM: THE ANNUAL VISIT OF GOD VISHNUMURTI

Documenting the theyyam rituals of northern Kerala

Year: 1995
Length: 56 min
Country: India
Language: Malayalam
Director: Erik de Maaker

The Boy in the Branch

Proselytisation of young Hindu boys by right-wing ultra-nationalist movement of the Hindutva ideology of the RSS

Year: 1993
Length: 27 min
Country: India
Language: English, Hindi, Sanskrit
Director: Lalit Vachani

THE SCHOOL THAT KARMI SOREN BUILT

Karmi Soren’s, a Lodha Tribal, struggle to establish a school in her village

Year: 1996
Length: 30 min
Country: India
Language: Bengali
Director: Ananya Chatterjee

The Seeds Of Malabar

Seeds and the future of platnts are threatened by patent rights in ecologically diverse Kerala

Year: 1996
Length: 22 min
Country: India
Language: Malayalam
Director: Rajeev Vijayraghavan

THE SELLING OF INNOCENTS

Following human trafficking from Nepal to India

Year: 1996
Length: 47 min
Country: Nepal
Language: Nepali, Hindi
Director: Bill Cobban

THE SPIRIT DOESN’T COME ANYMORE

An old Tibetan shaman and his difficult relationship with his son, who is not interested to continue the family vocation

Year: 1997
Length: 38 min
Country: Nepal
Language: Titetan
Director: Tsering Rhitar Sherpa

TU ZINDA HAI (TO BE ALIVE!)

A tribute to the struggle of women, their self-perception and changing identities.

Year: 1995
Length: 49 min
Country: India
Language: Hindi
Director: Shabnam Virmani

UCHCH: THE SACRED CITY

Documenting the efforts ot save the architecture of Uchch Shareef in Lahor.

Year: 1997
Length: 25 min
Country: Pakistan
Language: Urdu
Director: Salman Shahid

VEILED IN VAPOUR

A steam train’s journey during the dying days of steam travel in India

Year: 1996
Length: 26 min
Country: India
Language: French
Director: Gilbert Lareaux, Mulkul Mangalik

VOICES OF CHILDREN

The current struggles and future dreams of working children in Bangladesh

Year: 1997
Length: 30 min
Country: Bangladesh
Language: Bengali
Director: Tareque Masud, Catherine Masud

WAIT UNTIL DEATH