The Hindu : New Delhi News : Films to unravel politics of migration

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Friday, Jan 16, 2009
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Films to unravel politics of migration

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: A four-day event of film screenings and discussions titled “Making Migrant: Dialogues through Film” opened at India International Centre here on Thursday.

Organised by Public Service Broadcasting Trust in collaboration with India International Centre, it intends to focus on the experiences, processes and realities that go into creating the migrant. The festival will see screening of films dealing with the politics of migration, labour, citizenship, human rights, exile, de-humanisation, refugees, borders and other complexities of what constitutes migration, not just in terms of statistics alone but the social, political, economic and emotional realities that lie behind them.

Noting that migration has become a defining phenomenon of our times, PSBT Managing Trustee Rajiv Mehrotra says: “We are screening films that tell us the experiences of migrants across the globe. There will not be passive watching but engaging discussions so as to deepen people’s understanding of migration.”

Event curator Radhika Chopra, from DU’s Department of Sociology, says the festival would focus on illegal migrants, forced labour and labour trafficking: “These films showcase Punjabi labourers going to Europe, a Palestinian refugee camp and an involuntary labour during the World War II.”

The screenings will include films from celebrated film-makers and artistes Dai-Sil Kim Gibson (“A Forgotten People”), Ali Kazimi (“Continuous Journey”) and Richard Fung (“Rex vs. Singh”).

The package also includes “Dreaming of Tibet” by Will Parrinello, “Dur Kinara” by Savyasaachi Jain, “I for India” by Sandhya Suri and PSBT’s “Backstage Boys”.

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