FILM FESTIVAL: Human rights in South Asia: Sep 6-7, UC Berkeley

ASSOCIATION FOR INDIA'S DEVELOPMENT (Berkeley chapter)

presents

FILM FESTIVAL: HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH ASIA


FILM FESTIVAL WEEKEND
Saturday, September 6th, 4-6 pm
Sunday, September 7th, 11 am - 2 pm

AT: 110 SOUTH HALL, UC BERKELEY
Directions on campus: http://berkeley.edu/map/maps/BC34.html

Panel discussion and pizza!
All films are subtitled in English

Admission is free to all

Even as India celebrates 61 years of freedom from colonial rule, we must
remember that the battle for freedom did not end in 1947. Many
communities in India, and in the other South Asian countries, continue to
struggle for political and economic equality. The films being screened
this weekend depict peoples' struggle against forces of economic
imperialism, corporate globalization and the state's imposition of
neo-liberal models of economic development.

FEATURED FILMS

Saturday, September 6th, 4-6 pm

*Tales from the Margins by Kavita Joshi (2006, 23 minutes) documents human
rights abuses in the state of Manipur, India and argues that the use of
security personnel to quell public dissent is a violation of democratic
norms.

*New State, Old Problems
by The Campaign to Release Binayak Sen and Ajay T. G.[10 min, 2008]

Fifteen months ago, Dr. Binayak Sen, pediatrician, public health
specialist and national Vice President of the People's Union for Civil
Liberties(PUCL), was arrested on patently false charges of sedition, and
charged under the repressive "Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act."
Concerned people from around the globe protested this arrest, including
Ajay TG, a filmmaker and a colleague from PUCL, who made a movie
documenting Dr. Sen's lifelong commitment to issues of community health
and human rights. Ironically, almost a year after Dr. Sen's arrest, Ajay
T.G. was also arrested under the same repressive laws. Dr. Sen and Ajay,
both earned the ire of the government for opposing Salwa Judum.
This film provides viewers with some background to the arrests of
Dr. Sen and Ajay T.G., including brief introductions to the State of
Chhattisgarh, the Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha, the Naxalites and Salwa Judum.

*Anjam (The Consequence)by Ajay T. G.[20 min, 2008]

A film on the life and work of Dr. Binayak Sen. Traces the evolution of
Dr. Sen's life as an activist from his college days, to his involvement in
the miners' struggles in the Dalli Rajhara mines, and setting up the
Shaheed Hospital, and finally to a human rights activist as he recognized
the inalienable bond between human rights and health rights.

*The Other Side of the Boom by Special Broadcasting Services, Australia
Reporter: Jonathon Matthews. [22 min, 2008]

The rural poor in central India feel left out of the financial windfall
from India's economic success, and are increasingly turning their support
to the anti-government Maoist rebels known as "Naxalites". Video
journalist Jonathon Matthews seeks out the rebels – and the
government-backed vigilante group, Salwa Judum, that opposes them –to ask
whether the terrible cycle of violence that's affecting two thirds of the
Indian continent can possibly end. The ongoing violence has pitted
neighbor against neighbor, converted the area into a civil war zone, with
hundreds of villages burnt, scores of people murdered, entire communities
displaced and at least 50,000 people forced into squalid government camps.

** Followed by panel discussion and pizza


Sunday, September 7th, 11 am - 2 pm

*Development Flows From the Barrel of a Gun by Biju Toppo and Meghnath
(2003, 55 minutes) questions state-sponsored development that doesn't take
into account people's actual needs.

*Resilient Rhythms by Gopal Menon(2002, 65 Minutes)is an unflinching look
at the reality of issue of caste–based discrimination in contemporary
India, and the role of the state in perpetuating such discrimination.

*It’s A Boy! by Vani Subramanian (2008, 29 minutes) explores the
imbalance in sex ratios in Indian society caused by female foeticide and
infanticide, and the state’s promotion of gender selection technologies as
a tool of population control. It presents various perspectives including
that of feminist activists, religious leaders, elected officials, etc.
Finally, the film offers a portrait of the pressures of patriarchy by
interviewing members of a matrilineal community in North-Eastern India,
some members of which have begun to demand adherence to norms of
patriarchy.

For detailed synopsis of films, visit http://berkeley.aidindia.org/

Organized by: ASSOCIATION FOR INDIA'S DEVELOPMENT (Berkeley and Bay area
chapters) & FRIENDS OF SOUTH ASIA