VIKALP
Invites you to the first Mumbai screening of Stalin K's new documentary film
images UNTOUCHED
Stories of a People Apart
On 25th May, 2007 at 6:30pm
Bhupesh Gupta Bhavan, 85 Sayani Road, Prabhadevi, Mumbai
( Bhupesh Gupta Bhavan is diagonally opposite to Rabindra Natya Mandir )
images UNTOUCHED - Stories of a People Apart
108 minutes. Hindi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalm with English sub-titles
Directed by Stalin K.
Produced by Drishti,
Presented by Navsarjan
"images
UNTOUCHED-Stories of a People Apart" is perhaps the most comprehensive
look at Untouchability ever undertaken on film. Director Stalin
K. spent four years traveling the length and breadth of the country to
expose the continued oppression of 'Dalits,' the 'broken people' who
suffer under a 4000 year-old religious system.
The film introduces leading Benares
scholars who interpret Hindu scriptures to mean that Dalits 'have no
right' to education, and Rajput farmers who proudly proclaim that no
Dalit may sit in their presence, and that the police must seek their
permission before pursuing cases of atrocities.
The
film captures many 'firsts-on-film,' such as Dalits being forced to
dismount from their cycles and remove their shoes when in the upper
caste part of the village. It exposes the continuation of caste
practices and Untouchability in Sikhism, Christianity and Islam, and
even amongst the communists in Kerala. Dalits themselves are not let
off the hook: within Dalits, sub-castes practice Untouchability on the
'lower' sub-castes, and a Harijan boy refuses to drink water from a
Valmiki boy.
The
viewer hears that Untouchability is an urban phenomenon as well,
inflicted upon a leading medical surgeon and in such hallowed
institutions as JNU, where a Brahmin boy builds a partition so as not
to look upon his Dalit roommate in the early morning.
A
section on how newspaper matrimonial columns are divided according to
caste presents urbanindians with an uncomfortable truth: marriage is
the leading perpetuator of caste in images.
But
the film highlights signs of hope, too: the powerful tradition of Dalit
drumming is used to call people to the struggle, and a young Dalit girl
holds her head high after pulling water from her village well for the
first time in her life.
Spanning
eight states and four religions, this film will make it impossible for
anyone to deny that Untouchability continues to be practiced in images.
Directed by Stalin K: Stalin
K. is a human rights activist and award-winning documentary filmmaker.
In recent years, he has become known for his pioneering 'participatory
media' work with urban and rural communities, in which local people
produce their own videos and radio programs as an empowerment tool.
He is the Co-Founder of DRISHTI- Media, Arts and Human Rights,
Convener of the Community Radio Forum-images, and the images
Director of Video Volunteers. He is a renowned public speaker and
has lectured or taught at over 20 institutions ranging from the
National Institute of Design and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences
inindia, to New York University and Stanford and Berkeley in the US.
'images
UNTOUCHED' is Stalin's second film on the issue of caste—his earlier
film 'Lesser Humans,' on manual scavenging, won the Silver Conch at the
Mumbai International Film Festival and the Excellence Award at Earth
Vision Film Festival, Tokyo, and helped to bring international
attention to the issue of caste.
Produced by DRISHTI-Media, Arts and Human Rights: DRISHTI is a leading media and human rights organization in images,
with program areas of community radio, campaign design, documentary
filmmaking, street theatre, participatory video, community arts and
youth activism.
Presented by Navsarjan Trust: Navsarjan Trust, a leading Dalit human rights organization, works in over 3000 villages in Gujarat.
Its mission is to eradicate Untouchability through legal remedies and
struggles against forced occupations such as manual scavenging, and by
ensuring Dalits' access to education and livelihood. www.navsarjan.org
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