India – Documentary Field Notes and Flashpoints

From the film " Sands of the Skei Queen" — One of the main characters of Sands of the Skei Queen, Nonhle (right) at a protest.

A few weeks ago I participated in the selection committee for the Alter-Cine Foundation which lends modest but sometimes crucial support to filmmakers in Southern countries. The foundations criteria specify that it favours projects which support human rights and give a voice to people who are powerless or victimized. And of course projects which have a creative edge.

Over the ten years of its existence, the foundation has given grants of $5,000 or $10,000 to some 32 film projects in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Many of these films have had a successful career in festivals. This year, 67 projects were submitted from 35 countries. In the end, we decided to support three projects.

The first grant of $10,000 was awarded to South African filmmaker Ryley Grunenwald for her project Sands of the Skei Queen. The film will tell the story of the Mpondo community to defend its ancestral lands, cultural identity and way of life in the face of a giant titanium mining project. Corruption and intimidation by a multinational with the complicity of the South African government are part of the dramatic story.

The second grant of $5,000 went to the Indian filmmaker Fahad Mustafa for his project Powerless. It’s a look at the many different facets of the electricity crisis in Kanpur, India’s leather capital, which experiences frequent power cuts and deadly accidents as citizens climb electricity poles to connect cables of their own to the grid. It shows the energy crisis in a third world city in all its complexity and promises to be a terrific film. We also supported a third film which is being shot in difficult circumstances. For this reason, the author and title cannot be mentioned at this time.

To contribute to the Alter-Cine Foundation and allow it to continue supporting films in Southern countries, go to this site. The Alter-Cine Foundation was started in memory of my friend and colleague Yvan Patry, who passed away in 1999. It is run by his life partner Danièle Lacourse, also a good friend and ally. Together the couple produced and directed numerous films and television reports about human rights issues in some of the toughest places on the planet.

Thanks to Tobi Elliott for her help with the blog.

Last week, at the Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal, I had a chance to see the latest film by one of the world’s best documentarians, Kim Longinotto. In Pink Saris, she tells the story of the ‘Pink Gang’ of women in Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s poorest states. Led by a tough lady named Sampat Dal Devi, these “untouchables” (lowest caste) women take on violent or abusive husbands and corrupt officials.

The film has all the characteristics of a Longinotto documentary: it has amazing access to intimate situations, it deals with the rights of women, it’s tough and uncompromising, and doesn’t stay away from contradictions and difficulties. In this case, the main character is admirable, but Longinotto doesn’t idealize her, and at one point the film clearly shows her making a selfish and morally questionable choice which has serious consequences for a young woman who she has taken under her wing. The film is beautifully shot by the director herself.

Kim Longinotto @ Hot Docs — Photo: Paul Galipeau

I went to hear Longinotto speak at a workshop at Hot Docs last spring. I was very impressed by her modest and unassuming presentation. What struck me the most was her combination of caring for her subjects but her incredible tough-mindedness. She is so close to the characters that they will, it seems, let her film just about anything, no matter how hard it is.

And she does – even when the scenes are almost unbearable to watch, as in a famous scene from a female genital mutilation in Africa. Life is often unbelievably hard for women in ‘Third world’ countries, and Longinotto is determined to show it – but always from the perspective of people who are working to change the situation. It’s an attitude which seems to be rooted in her own harsh childhood experience as a homeless orphan, and her feeling that filmmaking “saved her life.”

Here is a list of some of Longinotto’s films:

Rough Aunties (2008)

Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go (2007)

Sisters in Law (2005)

The Day I Will Never Forget (2002)

Runaway (2001)

Gaea Girls (2000)

Divorce Iranian Style (1998)

Shinjuku Boys (1995)

Dream Girls (1994)

The Good Wife of Tokyo (1992)

Eat the Kimono (1989)