Films that do a reality check

Over 70 documentaries will be screened at the Open Frame Festival, says Elsa Sherin Mathews

A personal journey through Pakistan, a story of a sex worker and how a district in Tamil Nadu attained literacy — these are some stories that the Open Frame Festival tells this weekend. Organised by Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT), over 70 documentaries and reality films from India and abroad will be screened.

Thrivananthapuram-based Sanjiv Sivan’s Sex, Lies and a Book is a 30-minute film that charts the life of Nalini Jamila, a 52-year-old street sex worker. “As she speaks of her life, I recreate the scenes from her childhood to the present day. Her story exposes the hypocrisy of the patriarchal society,” says Sivan. Jamila is well known in Kerala after the publication of her autobiography titled I Am a Sex Worker.

“What hit me the most when I made the movie was the plight of women in society. Jamila’s circumstances pushed her into prostitution and later she was used and abused by all powerful,” explains Sivan, who co-produced the critically acclaimed Terrorist.

Wapsi-The Returning won this year’s National Award for the best voice-over narration. Raina, a Kashmiri who lives in Mumbai, made this film while travelling through Pakistan. “The film is a personal diary in which I have intertwined the political, cultural and sociological aspects of the relations between India and Pakistan,” he says.

Delhi-based Vani Subramaniam looks at the common man living under the shadow of conflict in modern day Ayodhya in Ayodhya Gatha. “Usually the focus of attention of the conflict is on the leaders, the politicians, the religious heads, ignoring the pain of those who are living on the conflict zone,” says Subramaniam, an independent filmmaker. I wanted to know how the common man was living through the turbulence.”

Literacy and empowerment is the theme of Vijay S Jodha’s Pedalling to Freedom. “It is a film about how the district of Pudukottai attained complete literacy due to government initiatives and the people’s desire to progress,” he explains. Thousands of women were taught how to ride bicycles and 2,30,000 people were made literate. “Those labourers who earned Rs10 started earning Rs100 a day and the unemployed found jobs,” Jodha says. A touch of reality conveyed by a medium that is about all things make-believe.
Open Frame Festival, until August 29, IHC, New Delhi