Documentary Film Resources
Gender, Sexuality, Identity
Unlimited Girls
110 mins, VCD, English and with subtitles
Director: Paromita Vora
Produced by: SAKSHI
A contemporary and lively examination of the many definitions of “feminism” in modern India
Review link: http://infochangeindia.org/documentary04.jsp
Contact: 28/27A PMGP, Off Mahakali Caves Road,
Andheri (E), Mumbai 400 093
Email: parodevi@vsnl.com
Sita’s Family
60 mins, VCD, Punjabi with English subtitles, 2003
Director: Saba Dewan
Produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust
The film explores relationships across generations of women in a family - as sisters, mothers and daughters.
Review link: http://infochangeindia.org/documentary03.jsp
Contact: Saba Dewan
A -19 Gulmohur Park,
New Delhi 110 049
Email: aakar@del3.vsnl.net.in
Identity: The Construction of Selfhood
20 mins, DVD, English, 1994
Directors: Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar
Produced by UMCTISS
Traversing a multi-cultural terrain, the film explores the gamut of modes in which identities are produced, circulated and consumed within the modern urban Indian culture
Contact **1
Tales of the Night Fairies
74 mins, VHS, Bengali with English subtitles, 2002
Director: Shohini Ghosh
Produced with help from The Centre for Feminist Legal Research and Mama Cash
In this personal and musical journey set in Kolkata, five sex workers and the filmmaker try to represent the struggles and aspirations of thousands of sex workers who constitute the DMSC, an initiative that emerged out of the Shonagachi HIV/AIDS Intervention Project.
Review link: http://infochangeindia.org/documentary19.jsp
Contact: shohini@vsnl.net
Ladies Special
30 mins, DVD, various languages with English subtitles, 2003
Director: Nidhi Tuli
Produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust
Focuses on women commuters of a local Mumbai train, who have transformed their journey into a time and space to be themselves, laugh, share, let off steam, and ask for and give help.
Review link: http://infochangeindia.org/documentary13.jsp
Contact: nidhi_tuli@rediffmail.com
Contact **3
On My Own
30 mins, DVD, English, 2002
Director: Anupama Srinivasan
Produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust
A story of the triumphs and tribulations of women living alone in cosmopolitan Delhi.
Review link: http://infochangeindia.org/documentary43.jsp
Contact **3
Odhni
23 mins, DVD, English and Hindi versions, 1993
Directors: Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar
Produced by UMCTISS
Based on a workshop with a group of women on the theme of self-image and sexuality, this video expresses women's perceptions of the relationships of power that impinge on women's bodies and their selves. Through a process of sharing and exploration, the group attempts a critique of the dominant modes of power that are immediate to their lives.
Contact **1
SheWrite
55 mins, DVD, Tamil with English subtitles, 2005
Directors: Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar
Produced by UMCTISS
A motley group of women of different ages, backgrounds and life experiences, and the common desire to explore themselves and their bodies, discover who they are really supposed to be.
Review link: http://infochangeindia.org/documentary44.jsp
Contact **1
Scribbles on Akka
60 mins, DVD, various languages with English subtitles, 2002
Director: Madhusree Dutta
Produced by Majlis
A short film celebrating the life and work of the 12th century saint poet, Mahadevi Akka, it highlights an ancient legacy of rebellion and femininity.
Contact **4
Memories of Fear
57 mins, DVD Hindi with English subtitles, 1995
Director: Madhusree Dutta
Produced by Majlis
Parallel narratives trace the rites of passage of four girls, dealing with shattered dreams, the construction of their desires, the growing alienation from their body, and the formation of fear.
Contact **4
Sundari: An Actor Prepares
30 mins, DVD, English, 2003
Director: Madhusree Dutta
Produced by Majlis
Based on the play by Anuradha Kapur, the film traces the life of Jayshankar Sundari, a popular female impersonator of the Gujarati stage in Mumbai the early 20th century. Unusually mounted around the works of eminent painters Bhupen Khakkar and Nilima Sheikh.
Contact **4
Skin Deep
DVD, English, 1998
Director: Reena Mohan
Produced by Majlis
About the search for femininity and how it permeates the self-image of contemporary Indian women.
Contact **4
Majma
54 min DVD, Hindi with English subtitles, 2001
Director: Rahul Roy
Through Aslam and Khalifa Barkat, the film explores the instability and insecurity of working class lives in Delhi, and the impact on male sexuality and gender relations.
Contact **5
Khel (The Play)
100 mins, DVD, Hindi with English subtitles
Directors: Saba Dewan/Rahul Roy
The filmmakers undertake a strange journey to discover if there has ever been an alternative to the brahmanical vision of fettered and bound female sexuality, or if spaces exist where feminine energy can flow free and powerful.
Contact **5
Shadows of Freedom
35 min, DVD
Director: Sabina Kidwai
The film traces the history of three women in a Muslim family in India, and how the issues of identity and gender conflict with their lives and those of their family.
Contact **3
Annapurna: Goddess of Food
25 min, DVD, English, 1995
Director: Paromita Vohra
Produced by: Yellow Line Television and TVI, India
Year: 1995
A portrait of Annapurna, a group started in 1975 by 14 khanawalis - women who prepared meals for migrant workers.
Contact: 28/27A PMGP, Off Mahakali Caves Road,
Andheri (E), Mumbai 400 093
Email: parodevi@vsnl.com
A Woman’s Place
58 mins, VHS, English
Director: Paromita Vohra
Produced by: Maryland Public Television for PBS.
Stories of women balancing the scales of power to ensure their space in a man's world.
Contact: 28/27A PMGP, Off Mahakali Caves Road,
Andheri (E), Mumbai 400 093
Email: parodevi@vsnl.com
Women of Substance
30 min, DVD
Directors: Nikhil and Niret Alva
Three women in rural India dare to step outside their homes, and into the once exclusively male domain of the village Panchayat.
Contact **3
Life Imprisonment
30 min, DVD
Director: Denize Rodricks
The film looks at the issue of domestic violence in India, its causes, consequences and various manifestations through the experience of some victims, their families and counsellors.
Contact **3
The Lijjat Sisterhood
30 min, DVD
Directors: Kadhambari Chinatani and Ajit Oomen
The success story of a Rs. 300-crore women’s cooperative - the Mahila Griha Udyog Papad.
Meet the sisterhood through four key protagonists, their colleagues and their families.
Contact **3
On an Express Highway
30 min, DVD
Director: Reena Mohan
The film traces the journey of a 33-year-old woman who gave up the material world for the austere life of a Jain Sadhvi.
Contact **3
Nobody Lies in a Temple
30 min, DVD
Directors: HB Muralidhara, Seema Muralidhara
The inspiring story of women from Anantpura, a small village in Rajasthan, who got together to start an all women cooperative milk dairy and attained both economic independence and emotional support.
Contact **3
Atmaghat: (The Women Betrayed)
40 mins, DVD, Hindi, English (subtitled), Bengali, 1993
Director: Sehjo Singh
Why women in Jharkhand are branded and hunted as witches
Contact **10
Gender Trouble
24 mins, DVD, English, 2002
Director: Roz Mortimer
Four inter-sex women speak about their lives
Contact **10
Sonamati
38 mins, DVD, Marwari (with English subtitles), 1996
Director: Sehjo Singh
One woman's fight for land rights in Bikaner
Contact **10
Little Republics
DVD, Telugu (with English subtitles), 2004
Director: Gautam Sonti
Experiences of a few elected scheduled caste and scheduled tribe women in Andhra Pradesh, how power is controlled and misused - in the home, community and outside world
Contact **10
Manjuben Truckdriver
52 mins, DVD, English (subtitled), 2002
Director: Sherna Dastur
A woman who has broken the stereotypes that are part of the social landscape she lives in, her identity is deliberately 'male', that of a macho trucker. But is she a crusader?
Contact **10
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