Centre bars three films at International Documentary and Short Film Festival
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a shocking instance of cultural control, the Information and Broad-casting Ministry has summarily refused the screening of three Indian documentaries at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival, scheduled to begin here on June 16. The three films — The unbearable Being of Lightness, In the Shade of Fallen Chinar, and March March March — deal with the three most contentious issues under Narendra Modi’s rule: suicide of Rohith Vemula, the unrest of students in Kashmir, and the uprising in the JNU camps. Chalachithra Academy chairman Kamal said a “cultural emergency” has been imposed in the state. “We are passing through a phase of undeclared emergency,” Kamal said here on Saturday.
However, what makes the censure farcical is the fact that two of the films — The Unbearable Being of Lightness and In the Shade of Fallen Chinar — have already been screened in short film festivals across the country, one of them within the state itself. The Unbearable Being of Lightness (Ramachandran P.N.), which explores the feelings of students in Hyderabad Central University after the suicide of Rohith Vemula, was premiered at Kolkata International Film Festival. Better still, In the Shade of Fallen Chinar (Fazil N.C. and Shawn Sebastian), about a student art movement in Kashmir, won the Special Jury Award at Signs 2016 Documentary and Short Film Festival at Kochi. Academy vice-chairperson Bina Paul said it was the first time that such a restriction had been imposed by the Centre.
Mr Ramachandran, the maker of the Rohith Vemula film, had secured permission from the I&B ministry last year to screen it in Kolkata. “We have written a letter to the ministry citing these instances,” Academy vice-chairperson Bina Paul said. She said that any film shown at a theatre required a censor certificate. “For films that do not possess such a certificate, the normal practice is for the Academy to approach the I&B ministry seeking an exemption to screen the films in theatres,” Ms Paul said. “They just sent a terse communication saying that three films have been refused screening, no reasons whatsoever were provided,” Ms Paul said.
‘The Unbearable Being of Lightness’ is a document of a five-day seminar the filmmaker conducted with the students of Hyderabad University after the death of Rohith Vemula. ‘In the Shade of Fallen Chinar’ is about an art movement that has flourished around a fallen chinar tree. It also offers a fresh perspective on the young generation in Kashmir, how some students instead of taking up the gun or the stray stone had preferred to pick up a guitar or a paint brush or a camera in their hands. ‘March March March’, by Kathu Lukose, attempts to discover the causes that led to the uprising in the JNU campus on February 9, 2016.
