FATHER, SON AND HOLY WAR explores in two parts the possibility that
the psychology of violence against “the other” may lie in male
insecurity, itself an inevitable product of the very construction of
“manhood.” In the first part, a reference to the ordeal Hindu god-king
Lord Rama tested his wife Sita’s fidelity with, looks at the communal
fires which have consumed India in recent years. “Sati,” a rite by
which Roop Kanwar was thrown on her husband’s funeral pyre; the upper
castes’ “purifying” fire rituals and the communal fires that ravaged
Bombay after the demolition of the mosque in Ayodhya are set against a
small group of fire fighters: a Rajasthani woman who, against the
odds, condemns Sati; a Muslim woman who battles gender discriminatory
laws; and a band of Hindus and Muslims who march for communal harmony
in the riot-torn streets of Bombay. The second part, examines
“manhood” in the context of religious strife. The Hindu majority has
been raised on stories of marauding Muslim invaders who raped their
women, destroyed their temples, and forced religious conversions.
Today, some Hindus demand revenge for crimes committed centuries ago.
They reject non-violence as impotence and set out to be “real men.”
Watch it on zinemaya:
Father, son, and Holy War

IN THE NAME OF GOD focuses on the campaign waged by the militant
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to destroy a 16th century mosque in
Ayodhya said to have been built by Babar, the first Mughal Emperor of
India. The VHP claim the mosque was built at the birth-site of the
Hindu god Ram after Babar razed an existing Ram temple. They are
determined to build a new temple to Ram on the same site. This
controversial issue, which successive governments have refused to
resolve, has led to religious riots which have cost thousands their
lives, culminating in the mosque’s destruction by the Hindus in
December of 1992. The resulting religious violence immediately spread
throughout India and Pakistan leaving more than 5,000 dead, and
causing thousands of Indian Muslims to flee their homes.
Watch it on zinemaya:
In The Name Of God

And here goes this years Award-Winers..

The Best Short Fiction – Kadaltheerathu/ On Seashore Directed by Sherry, Produced by Lakshmanan Shyju Based on a story by OV Vijayan, Vellyiyappan’s son is being hanged to death. And Vellayiyappan is on a lonely journey from his remote village to the prison to receive his son’s body.

Best Short Documentary – Morality TV and the loving Jehad ( A Thrilling Tale )
directed by: Paromita Vohra
Producer: PSBT

The film looks outside the frames that weave the frenetic tapestry of Breaking News on India’s new channels to uncover a town’s complex dynamics – the fear of love, the constant scrutiny and control of women’s mobility and sexuality, a history of communal violence, caste brutalization and feudal equations.

Best Long Documentary – The Mahua Memoirs: Directed by Vinod Raja Produced by: Equations, Grass roots media Pvt. Ltd

Through stories and songs the film unravels, unfolds the struggles of the Adivasis or the tribes aganist the state and the mining companies. When a nation begins to grow rapidly at over 9 percent, what does that mean for 8 percent of people, who remain unseen and unheard?

Best Animation Film to be shared by Mukund and Riaz directed by Nina Sabnani and Shadow directed by Varun Jyoti Deori

Mukund and Riaz : Set Aganist the background of the partition, the film is about friendship between children. Their freindship knows no barbed wire fencing. The film is essentially about every child’s right to friendship and home.

Shadow : This movie shows war as a soul that always roams around in search of a body to make war. And after making war with the help of that body, it abandons the body, in search of a new body.

Pokkudan started planting mangroves at the age of 52 and that created a lot of Mangroves forest in the Kannur district of kerala. In four decades, mangrove forest area in the state of kerala had dropped from over 700 sq km to a paltry 17 sq km. Kannur still has nearly 45 percent of the state’s remaining wetlands, thanks mostly to Pokkudan’s initiatives.

Documentary available for download at zinemaya.com

Reviews on Kandal Pokkudan on India Today and Tehelka.com

About the Film maker – Sanju Surendran
Born in 1980, Sanju Surendran majored in Zoology and was associated with Film clubs and Documentary film making before joining the Film & TV Institute of Pune, India. He completed his graduation in Film Direction in 2007. At present he is working on an Independent script.
Sanju can be reached at sanjusurendran@gmail.com