RELEASE AJAY TG FILM FESTIVAL
releaseajaytg@gmail.com
www.releaseajaytg.in
on August 4, 2008 at 6pm
Conference Hall, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
as part of the nationwide campaign by filmmakers and human rights activists for the release of Ajay TG, arbitrarily arrested on 5th May 2008 under the Chattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA) . The arrests of Ajay and earlier of Dr. Binayak Sen in May 2007 are the tip of the iceberg of state-sponsored repression and stifling of dissent in Chattisgarh. The festival will also be an occasion to kick off a signature drive and other events in solidarity with the campaign, at TISS.
Vikalp is a nationwide collective of filmmakers against censorship and for freedom of expression. It has regular screenings in Mumbai. Every first Monday of the month, during the semester, will be a Vikalp@TISS event organised by Adda.
SCHEDULE
1800 hrs
Introduction to Adda, Vikalp@Tiss and the campaign
1815 hrs
Anjam / Original Language
20 mins 41 sec / 2007-08
Directed by Ajay TG
Documentary about Binayak Sen
The Other Side of the Mirror
7 mins 26 sec
Extract of unfinished film which links a critique of Indian chauvinism with the contrast between the education of rich and poor children and then introduces the bal angan which Ajay started.
Aisa Kyon?
1 min 51sec / 2007 / Original Language
Short drama devised and shot by girls at the school run by Ajay TG. The brief was to focus on an issue which affects them. In this film they chose discrimination in education. It was to have been the first of a series of such short dramas on various issues but the project has been interrupted by Ajay’s imprisonment.
Hathaure Wala (Man with the Hammer)
5 mins 46 sec / 1999 / Original Language
Directed by Ajay TG
A portrait of an 80-year old lohar (blacksmith) who works in the shadow of the Bhilai Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh. This is Ajay’s first film and one from the first trio of films made at Jandarshan.
Golapalli: A Fact Finding by the PUCL
15mins / 2004 / Original Language
Direction, Camera, Editing and Graphics by Ajay TG
This film describes an incident in which two school teachers and a student were killed by paramilitary forces in Village Golapalli, Tehsil Konta, District Bastar. The film is based on testimonies of the people of the village to a fact finding team of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties.
Heads and Tales
20 mins 54 sec / 2002 / English subititles
Directed by Alpa Shah and Ajay TG
Research and Script by Alpa Shah
A Jandarshan student film about the relationship between tradition and politics. Parha Mela, a festival in Jharkhand, was initiated to symbolise tribal unity and the tribal system of socio-political governance. From 1990 it became two separate events, held two kilometres away from one another on the same day, each supported by a politician of a different party. The film explores this dichotomy.
The Journey (Safar)
15 mins 7 sec / 2001 / English subtitles
Directed by Reeta Chandel and Ajay TG
A Jandarshan student film about Reeta’s father, a porter in the hospital of the Bhilai Steel Plant. This film is a development of Reeta’s 5 minute film, Papa Says, shot by Ajay, as part of an earlier student exercise. The Journey was made because Ajay felt that they should explore questions about marriage and gender which had come up by chance during the shooting of the earlier film.
Photographs
5 mins 57 sec / 2007
A sequence of stills taken by girls in the school Ajay runs, put in order and set to music.
2010 hrs
Moderated discussion and Campaign Follow-up.
For more information or inquiries on screening your film, please send an email to adda.cmcs@gmail.com
Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Sion Trombay Road, Opposite Deonar Bus Depot, Mumbai-88.Tel: 022-25525667
Adda 