Breakthrough films come to town on January 25

 

The tri-continental film festival for documentaries will be held between January 25 and 27 in Mumbai. The festival was kick-started from Delhi on January 21. After Mumbai, it will travel to Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. It is being organised by ‘Breakthrough’, a non-profit organisation.

 

The film festival was first conceived in 2002 by Latin American filmmakers who felt that this concept could be extended to African and Asian countries as well.

 

“They felt there is an interconnectedness between social struggles, movements and human rights violations across the continents,” says Alika Khosla, associate director, Breakthrough.

 

This festival was held by Uhuru productions in Africa and later the filmmakers suggested that the festival be held in India as an annual event. Breakthrough first tried and tested this for two years and it will be an annual event. Filmmakers from other countries favoured Breakthrough in India. In fact this year Breakthrough has made its own films too.

 

“We use popular culture and products to integrate in education the human rights issues. The filmmakers appreciated our work and wanted us to conduct the tri-continental documentary film festival,” says Khosla.

 

The idea of the film festival is also to go beyond screening leading films from Asia, Africa and Latin America in metros. It has already plans to take these films to educational institutions and involve youth in a dialogue on important issues.

 

“This year we take the films to educational institutions, organisations and get experts to talk to youth on human rights violation and other issues that are raised through these films. We have requests from Hyderabad, Guwahati, Silliguri, Jammu Chandigarh and educational institutions from Bangalore, Mysore and Chennai,” says Khosla.

 

This year the entries have been classified into different groups. The festival will be held at the National Centre for Performing Arts.

 

 

January 25: 1pm
The Journey by Ligy Pullapally (107 min)
Set in rural Kerala, The Journey begins with the childhood friendship between the beautiful and outgoing Delilah, a Christian girl, and the sober, idealistic, and inwardly-focused Kiran, a girl from a Nair family next door. They quickly become inseparable, and in time, Kiran feels attracted to Delilah, but suppresses it. She finds a Bergerac-like outlet by writing love letters to Delilah for Rajan, a local boy pursuing her. When Delilah learns the truth about the letters, she responds to Kiran. As neighbours begin to whisper, Delilah’s family goes into a panic mode with arranged marriage plans. Meanwhile, Kiran fights back, leaving Delilah in the middle of a tug of war. The director achieves in this film a piquancy that deepens a sensitively drawn story.

 

January 26: 7pm
Homecoming by Norman Maake (90 min)
Homecoming is a story of friendship. Set in 1996, it is a heart-wrenching thriller about three boyhood friends, ANC exiles, who come back home to post-apartheid South Africa. Charlie, Peter and Thabo are forced to deal with the realities of the apartheid era and their friendship begins to take on a new meaning.

 

January 27: 10.30am
Acting Like a Thief by Kerim Friedman and Shashwati Talukdar (15 min)
Acting Like a Thief is a short film about the Budhan Theatre of Chharanagar by Dakxin Bajrange. The members of Budhan Theatre are Chhara tribals. They were notified as “born criminals” by the British government, and imprisoned in a labour camp in Ahmedabad. After India became independent, they were de-notified, but the stigma of being a “born criminal” follows them everywhere even now.