Watch! You too can be an agent of change

The second edition of the Flashpoint Human Rights Film Festival that opens today, brings together films that highlight human rights violations around the world. The Guide gets festival director Sridhar Rangayan to tell us why you should watch these five films that focus on India Firaaq (Separation) (2008)Director Nandita DasDuration 101 minutesLanguage(s) Hindi, English, Gujarati/ English subtitlesWhen Thursday, 6 pmWhat's it about?Firaaq explores the aftermath of the 2002 violence in Gujarat on 'ordinary lives'. Shahana Goswami plays Muneera, one-half of a young Muslim couple who return to find their home looted and burnt. The film explores how everyday dynamics change when lives, families and homes are destroyed in the name of religion.Why you should watch it:There has been endless debate and heated arguments about the communal riots in Gujarat. Every coin has two sides, and every argument has a flipside. But what does not have a flipside are the human lives that get caught in the middle.Pink Saris (2010)Director Kim LonginottoDuration 96 minutesLanguage Hindi/ English subtitlesWhen Friday, 10 amWhat's it about?Sampat Pal, the pink-sari-wearing protagonist of acclaimed filmmaker Kim Longinotto's film, is a role model for women in Uttar Pradesh. Married as a young girl into a family, which made her work hard and beat her often, Pal rebels against the system by founding her Gulabi Gang and helping women reclaim their lost voices.Why you should watch it:Who would have thought that a simple woman from a rural village could create a movement! The film is an amazing insight into what makes activists who they areu00a0-- it is essentially about 'being human'.In Search of My Home (2010)Director(s) Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu ThomasDuration 30 minutesLanguage Hindi / English subtitlesWhen Saturday, 12 noonWhat's it about?India is home to one of the largest refugee populations in the world. Thousands of men, women and children come here in search of shelter and new identities. The country, however, still lacks a comprehensive domestic refugee law that could help guarantee basic rights and a life of dignity for people forced to leave their homes behind.Why you should watch it:This is a peep into the lives of people who live among us, but whose existence we are indifferent to: Migrants who have fled their countries because of hatred and violence and come to India to seek shelter. Cotton For My Shroud (2011)Directors Nandan Saxena and Kavita BahlDuration 82 minutesLanguages English, Marathi, Hindi/ English subtitlesWhen Friday, 2 pmWhat's it about?The film follows the lives of three families to understand the reason driving the once prosperous farmers of the Vidarbha region to despair. Is it an issue of debt or of development? Since 1995, a quarter of a million Indian farmers have committed suicideu00a0-- the largest wave of recorded suicides in humna history.Why you should watch it:You see the [consequences of] the apathy of the government and the invasion of the capitalist multi-nationals into rural India. The funeral scene of the farmer who has committed suicide left me shattered. Mee Sindutai Sapkal (I Am Sindutai Sapkal) (2010)Director Anant MahadevanDuration 110 minutesLanguage Marathi/ English subtitlesWhen Saturday, 6 pmWhat's it about?The film traces the journey of Sindutai Sapkal, who was born 'Chindi' meaning 'torn cloth'. Brought up in abject poverty, she was married off at the age of 12, and then thrown out of her house by her husband and his in-laws after being unjustly accused of carrying another man's child. Not a victim of her circumstance, Sindutai survives and goes on to adopt abandoned children to help build shelters for them. Why you should watch it:This is a fantastic biopic that hasu00a0 been beautifully shot. The trials Chindi undergoes before becoming Sindu, and then Sindutai who shelters thousands of orphans, is a life that goes beyond the pages of a book or the duration of a film.On: (open to the public on) Thursday, Friday and SaturdayAt: Theosophy Hall, Alliance Francaise de Bombay, 40, New Marine Lines Road (near SNDT Women's University, Churchgate)Call: 22035993Entry FreeLog on to: http://www.flashpointfilmfestival.blogspot.com/ for details on the complete schedule (schedule subject to change).