FLASHPOINT Human Rights Film Festival: November 2011

OPENING FILM 'MIRAL' on DECEMBER 7th 6.00pm ONLY BY INVITATION

New Delhi & Mumbai Schedule

2nd FLASHPOINT Human Rights Film Festival - SCREENING SCHEDULE : NEW DELHI

Friday, Feb 3, 2012	Saturday, Feb 4, 2012	Sunday, Feb 5, 2012
10.00am INAUGURATION 10.30am JUSTICE FOR SERGEI 64 min / Russia / 2010	10.00am IMPUNITY 85 min / Spain, Columbia / 2010	10.00am FREEING SILVIA BARALDINI 99 min / USA, Italy / 2011
12.00noon IN SEARCH OF MY HOME 2010, 30mins / India 12.30pm 21 DAYS TO NAWROZ 2009, 74 min / Canada, Iraq	12.00noon YOU DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH: 4 DAYS INSIDE GUANTANAMO 100 min / Australia, Canada, UK / 2010	12.00noon MADE IN INDIA 95 min / USA, India / 2010
2.15pm UNJUST 77 min / Hong Kong / 2010	2.00pm BUDRUS 70 min / USA, Israel / 2009	2.00pm SARABAH 60 min / USA, Senegal / 2011
3.45pm COTTON FOR MY SHROUD 82 min / India / 2011	3.30pm PINK SARIS 96 min / UK, India / 2010	3.15pm BULLIED 39 min / USA / 2009 4.00pm CAMEROON: COMING OUT OF THE NKUTA 52 min / France, Cameroon / 2009
5.00pm MIRAL 112 min / France, Israel / 2010	5.00pm *PERFORMANCE & PANEL DISCUSSION* ROOTS OF CORRUPTION Human Rights implications	5.30pm *PANEL DISCUSSION* ROOTS OF WAR Communal & Sexual exploitation
7.30pm MIRAL 112 min / France, Israel / 2010	7.00pm MEE SINDUTAI SAKPAL 110 min / India / 2010	7.00pm FIRAAQ 101 min / India / 2008

Note: Schedule subject to change at the discretion of the organizers

Venue

Alliance Française de Delhi

72, Lodi Estate,
New Delhi – 110003

Phone: 011-43500200 /217 /222 /230

Festival Contact

FLASHPOINT Human Rights Film Festival

Email: flashpoint.hrff@gmail.com

Website: www.flashpointfilmfestival.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd FLASHPOINT Human Rights Film Festival - SCREENING SCHEDULE : MUMBAI

	Thursday, Dec 8, 2011	Friday, Dec 9, 2011	Saturday, Dec 10, 2011
10.00 am	JUSTICE FOR SERGEI 64 min / Russia / 2010	PINK SARIS 96 min / UK, India / 2010	MADE IN INDIA 95 min / USA, India / 2010
12.00 noon	YOU DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH: 4 DAYS INSIDE GUANTANAMO 100 min / Australia, Canada, UK / 2010	FREEING SILVIA BARALDINI 99 min / USA, Italy / 2011	IN SEARCH OF MY HOME 2010, 30mins / India 21 DAYS TO NAWROZ 2009, 74 min / Canada, Iraq
2.00 pm	BUDRUS 70 min / USA, Israel / 2009	COTTON FOR MY SHROUD 82 min / India / 2011	BULLIED 39 min / USA / 2009 CAMEROON: COMING OUT OF THE NKUTA 52 min / France, Cameroon / 2009
3.30 pm	IMPUNITY 85 min / Spain, Columbia / 2010	UNJUST 77 min / Hong Kong / 2010	(4.00pm) SARABAH 60 min / USA, Senegal / 2011
5.00 pm	*PANEL DISCUSSION* ROOTS OF WAR Political & Communal divisiveness	*PERFORMANCE*	*PANEL DISCUSSION* ROOTS OF VIOLENCE Sexual and bodily inflictions
6.00 pm	FIRAAQ 101 min / India / 2008	GHABRICHA PAUS 100 min / India / 2009	MEE SINDUTAI SAKPAL 110 min / India / 2010

Note: Schedule subject to change at the discretion of the organizers

Venue

Alliance Française de Bombay

40, New Marine Lines Road

Mumbai 400020

Phone: 022 2203 5993

Festival Contact

FLASHPOINT Human Rights Film Festival

Email: flashpoint.hrff@gmail.com

Website: www.flashpointfilmfestival.com

When empathy erodes from our society evil walks tall. I am certain that these deeply felt films made by these brave film makers and which deal with the issue of man's brutality to man, will jolt us all and make us take note of the suffering we unleash on our fellow human beings. Flashpoint Human Rights Film Festival for me is like a solitary lamp in this dark night. It will ignite hope in the hopeless.

– Mahesh Bhatt, Filmmaker & Activist - Guest of Honour at Inauguration

For any change to be lasting and genuine. I believe it is crucial that we turn our gaze inward. Legal institutions guarantee ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ but the world today is proof that these are by no means enough. The Flashpoint film festival is brilliant, in that it brings together films that inspire thought and inner change. Cinema has the power needed to inspire that change in the individual.

– Tisca Chopra, Actress - Guest of Honour at Inauguration

During my many travels and interactions around the world, I have sensed a collective desire to understand complex and violent world we inhabit and a palpable need for peace. My film Firaaq reflects this sprit and touches the hearts and minds of those who watch it. For me a film is not an end in itself. It is a means to stir a dialogue about our own fears, prejudices and responses to violence. So I am happy that Firaaq is being screened at the FLASHPOINT Human Rights Film Festival this week. Even after three years, I think the film is as relevant and a dialogue about communal violence as important, in today’s time too.

– Nandita Das, Filmmaker - FIRAAQ

Of all the 16 international fests that Mee Sindhutai Sapkal has been

screened, Flashpoint fest hold great relevance for the film, dealing

as it does with the burning issue of human rights... To transcend a

mood of death and give life a chance is the theme of the film and I am

glad that it is the closing film at such an important event.. Both the

fest and the film complement each other.

– Ananth Mahadevan, Director - MEE SINDUTAI SAPKAL

– Martin Maat, Director - JUSTICE FOR SERGEI

If you assume that documentaries reflect reality, you would also have to accept that reality includes segments that sit within the shadows of the invisible. Once in a while, a part of that reality leaves its confinement to fall directly under the public spotlight. Such is the case of the material that forms the essential skeleton of our film.

The images will see in this film are still to this day, the only images that exist from inside Guantanamo. January 13rd 2012 will mark the 10th anniversary of Guantanamo. You could use that opportunity to write to the US President, Barak Obama and ask for its closure. Dont forget you have a voice.

Thank you for your presence and have a good screening.

– Luc Côté & Patricio Henriquez, Directors - YOU DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH: 4 DAYS INSIDE GUANTANAMO

Thanks to you for coming to see the film. And thanks to Flashpoint for making this all possible

I was attracted to Sampat Pal's story as I enjoy watching films about people who are struggling for change rather than films about 'victims'. The genius of Sampat is that she brings taboo subjects out into the open and makes people challenge their own beliefs. I have learnt a lot from her and her insistence that the shame in abuse lies with the perpetrator and not the person they have been abusing. She encourages those of us who have been raped to call ourselves survivors rather than victims. If only there were Sampat Pals in every school, town and village in the UK, then the priests and parents who have been abusing young children down the ages would not have been able to keep it all hidden for so long!

Sampat, the 'Commander in Chief' of the Gulabi Gang, is now famous throughout Uttar Pradesh. She doesn't need to summon the Gang anymore; she uses her own fame to challenge authority. But, as you'll see when you watch the film, fame itself is destructive and it means that Sampat is becoming isolated from the people around her. She has also been damaged by her childhood experiences. If you haven’t experienced any love in your childhood, it makes it harder to form lasting relationships.

For me, the four young women we meet when they come to Sampat for help are the heart of Pink Saris. They are at a great crisis in their lives and see Sampat as their last hope. We watch their stories unfold; we know they are stories being played out countless times across India and the world.

Change is a subtle, shifting thing. It can happen suddenly. But sometimes old prejudices and traditions can become so entrenched that they seem immovable. It needs brave people like Sampat to defy superstition and authority. Change can happen in many other, often hidden, ways when people dare to question. "Pink Saris" is a reflection of that longing for change.

– Kim Longinotto, Director – PINK SARIS

Dear people from the 2^nd Flashpoint Human Rights Film Festival and audience members, we are excited for this opportunity to screen our documentary, Freeing Silvia Baraldini about the life of former, U.S., political prisoner, Silvia Baraldini within this year’s festival. It is a great honor to screen our film in India, the country that brought the world Mohandas Gandhi, one of the greatest leaders for human rights and a country whose spiritual teachings continue to guide people of the world toward developing a greater human compassion. It is right that Silvia’s and her fellow activist’s story come into the International arena where it is both indebted and belongs. We hope that this little known chapter within the continuum of the Human Rights Struggle from our country’s history brings inspiration to the world and helps toward discovering gentler and effective ways to achieve world peace and equality.

– Margo Pelletier & Lisa Thomas Producers/Directors - FREEING SILVIA BARALDINI

I am thrilled that MADE IN INDIA is screening at this important festival in Mumbai where much of this story takes place. Back in 2007 when we started filming, outsourcing of surrogacy was a relatively little known phenomenon. Since then the industry around it has grown exponentially without adequate protection for any of the parties involved that include women who are surrogates & egg donors, and the commissioning parents. We hope that the film's story and the intimate journey with the characters will help you leave the room engaged, with many questions!

I am originally from Mumbai and I regret I couldn't be there for this screening but please do feel free to contact us via www.madeinindiamovie.com anytime! We are also interested in finding partners to screen the Hindi dubbed version of the film in communities - so spread the word!

– Vaishali Sinha, Director - MADE IN INDIA

It's an honor to be part of this esteemed festival. We wish we could be there with you all at this screening! We made this film with the goal of showing the personal stories and experiences of all the players involved in transnational surrogacy in a nuanced and unbiased way. We really wanted to show all sides of the story without condemning of promoting the practice - but instead showing all the complicated questions that emerge throughout. As Vaishai said, we hope that watching this film helps raise some new questions for you.

Thank you again and enjoy!

– Rebecca, Director - MADE IN INDIA

Thanks so much for choosing our to be a part of the Flashpoint festival - with such an interesting mix of films.

I know its late, but still sending our thanks to the festival for taking our film to new and innovative spaces through this platform. It would be great if you could share some viewer feedback post the screening with us. I'm sharing the mailer with friends in Mumbai who'd be keen to attend such a festival.

Our best wishes for the festival!

– Sushmit Ghosh & Rintu Thomas, Directors - IN SEARCH OF MY HOME

I'm thrilled that my film has been invited to screen at the Flashpoint Human Rights Film Festival - thank you so much to the festival organizers for doing such important work and to you, the audience for choosing to see the film.

This film has the DNA of three countries in it. First, Canada, where I was born, live and work, and where I found support to make the film.

Secondly, Iraq, where my cousin Sherizan Minwalla was working with an organization called Heartland Alliance to help female victims of violence. Her stories of the women she was meeting was the inspiration for the film and I couldn't have made it without her connections and support.

And finally, India - in fact right here in Mumbai. My dearly departed cousin Riyad Wadia was a native of this town, and was a maverick and an inspiration to me. He made a wonderful documentary years ago and continues to be my hero, long after his death.

I'd like to dedicate this screening to Riyad, the first documentarian in the family and the reason I became a storyteller.

Thank you again to all of you for coming and please enjoy these three amazing women and their heartfelt stories.

– Michelle Mama, Director - 21 DAYS TO NAVROZ

First i would like to thank you for your invitation.

It took me 3 years to do this film.

Since 2009, the moovie have been invited by lot of festivals all over the world

and it give power to Alice Nkom inside Cameroon to go one her fight.

I hope this film give you an idea of cameroon society

because i'm talking about homophobia problems

but i try at same time to make people much more understanding cameroon society.

Enjoye the moovie,

and thanks a lot.

– Céline Metzer, Director - CAMEROON: COMING OUT OF THE NKUTA

We're very grateful to have this film seen by all of you tonight. SARABAH was a labor of love for a musician and activist that inspired all of us. We're sure she will also inspire you. We hope the film also shows that this is just one incredibly positive example of grassroots activism in Africa - and that there are many other stories to seek out and be inspired by. We encourage you, if you feel motivated to learn more or to help, to visit our website www.sarabahdocumentary.com and our Facebook page (Sarabah Documentary). Please enjoy the film!

– Maria Luisa Gambale, Co-Director/Co-Producer - SARABAH