Documentaries on social issues gain traction at Iffi

Times of India | 4 days ago

Documentaries on social issues gain traction at Iffi

Tags: women   film   assam   student   school   iffi   gujarat   witches   unit   tribal gujarat   tribal   teachers   stories   single student   single  

PANAJI: From a documentary on a women police unit of Assam created to curb crimes against females, to the tradition of declaring women witches, to exploiting them in rural Gujarat, the 52nd International Film Festival of India (Iffi) saw Indian films that tell little known stories on social issues from different corners of the country. Biswajeet Bora’s Assamese film, ‘Boomba Ride’, for instance, is about a school with a single student who has to get to the institution by a canoe. Being fully aware of the desperate situation of the teachers to keep the school operational for their salaries, the mischievous student takes advantage of these circumstances. “In 2003, I saw a news report in Assam about a school with a single student, and thought of making a film during the pandemic. There are a lot of stories in primary education in rural areas, not just in Assam, but across India. The government has given a lot of facilities. But we and the teachers are not taking education seriously, especially in government-run schools,” said Bora. ‘Veerangana’ is another Assamese film made by Kishore Kalita. It is about a female police unit created in Assam to fight the rising crimes against women. The women are trained in motorbike riding, martial arts and handling lethal and non-lethal weapons to effectively deal with any crime. “Nowadays, we talk about women rising in tandem with men in every field, but when the night comes, women are afraid to go out alone due to the fear of eve-teasers and harassers. The fact that women can protect women is what I wanted to show through this documentary”, said Kalita, a lawyer. Similarly, ‘The Spell of Purple’, by Prachee Bajania, features a part of tribal Gujarat where thousands of women are labelled witches with ulterior motives to grab property or sexually harass them. “The movie celebrates the courage but also speaks about the weariness faced by them due to constant harassment,” said Bajania. In the film, ‘Inaas’, the sole owner of a small field in tribal Gujarat is the target of envious neighbours who brand her a ‘witch’. Enveloped in fear, she looks for strength in other women. The opening film of the Indian Panorama section at Iffi 2021 was ‘Semkhor’, directed by Aimee Baruah. It is the first Dimasa language film to be screened at Iffi. The language is not included yet in the Eighth Schedule. The movie covers the story of the Samsa community, who live a life in isolation and revolves around the custom of semkhor in the community, where if a woman dies during childbirth, the infant is buried alive along with the mother.