The curated quintet of documentary films are being screened on Monday and Tuesday.
Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire by Canadian director Peter Raymont speaks of the brutal genocide of over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus men, women and children who were horrifically hacked to death with machetes by the then regime in Rwanda in Central Africa. The man, who was commissioned by the United Nations to restore peace, Canadian Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire, returns to Rwanda after his disastrous mission ten years back, to confront the failed past. As he delves deep into the devastating memories, a vivid picture of not only genocide, but also betrayal and racism in the international politics and abandonment by the global community comes to light.
Throwing light on the social, physical and psychological problems and the identity crises that confront the yuppie generation of money driven urban Indians that people the country’s call centres is Ashim Ahluwalia’s John and Jane. The film follows stories of six such call agents, who donning American aliases and accents and spending life simulated reality on 14-hour graveyard shifts who answer customers queries from US sitting in Mumbai. The docu raises several disturbing questions on the nature of personal identity and what it mean’s to be an aspiring and ambitious young Indian in the 21st C globalised flat world as Thomas L Friedman described it and the toll it is taking on these kids of the new bloc.
As its title speaks for itself, Leila Khaled Hijacker by Lina Makboul recounts what it means to be the first female hijacker the 24-year-old Leila Khaled and how she did it and and what drove her to become a freedom fighter. Canadian Patricio Henriquez’s To Disobey, brings to fore three men — an Israeli soldier, a Chilean Army colonel and an American war veteran in Iraq narrating how they defied the diktats of their superiors that went against the grain of their conscience while being witness to the atrocities that the army wreaked upon people in the time of war and asked each of these men’s cooperation in their respective stations.
Spotlighting on the common custom and traditional practice of kidnapping the woman and marrying her prevalent in Kyrgzstan, Peter Lom’s Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan speaks of how this ancient, antediluvian practice of abduction of the woman against her will, sometimes with her consent, since the too deep bride price cannot be paid by the groom, the docu-drama brings to fore how majority of girls are forced to marry against her will.
Entry free. Screenings Mon (Nov 26) 4.15 & 6.15 pm and Tue (Nov 27) 4.15, 6 & 7.30 pm, Ashirvad, 30 St Mark’s Road Cross, opp SBI. For details: 25492774/25493705/ 9886213516 (Siddarth) / (Narahari) 9480090128.
