Kamayani Bali Mahabal, a post graduate in clinical psychology, worked as a clinical psychologist in Mumbai for a year before getting a diploma in journalism. She plunged into journalism and was with national news agencies for five years reporting on human interest stories. While simultaneously being a journalist, she completed her law degree and shifted to human rights law. She then joined the Indian Centre for Human Rights and Law (ICHRL) as a coordinator of the criminal law cell for two years. She has worked with Interights on a research project on honor killings in Asia and with Amnesty International on a campaign on domestic violence with special reference to grassroot NGOs in the developing world. Since 2003, she has worked as a senior research officer with the Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT) on issues of health and human rights and especially on the issue of sex selective abortions and right to abortion. Nowadays, she is an independent expert in gender health and human rights and she has conducted training workshops for police, judges, students and civil society activists. Recently, she has been involved in opposing state sponsored violence in Dantewada, Chattisgarh against the tribals in the name of Naxalism. She has been a visiting lecturer at various universities including UPenn, Minnesota, Yale and MIT.
The venue will also host a photo exhibit on the “State of Adivasis in Chattisgarh (India)” on April 8, 9, 12 and 13. Center hours are 10 am to 12 noon and 1 pm to 5 pm.
Film Festival Weekend Saturday, September 6th, 4-6 pm
Sunday, September 7th, 11 am - 2 pm Where: 110 South Hall, UC Berkeley
Directions on campus: http://berkeley.edu/map/maps/BC34.html Followed by panel discussion and pizza! All films are subtitled in English
Admission is free to all
Even as India celebrates 61 years of freedom from colonial rule, we mustremember that the battle for freedom did not end in 1947. Manycommunities in India, and in the other South Asian countries, continue tostruggle for political and economic equality. The films being screenedthis weekend depict peoples' struggle against forces of economicimperialism, corporate globalization and the state's imposition ofneo-liberal models of economic development.
Saturday, September 6, 4-6pm
Tales from the Margins by Kavita Joshi [23 minutes, 2006]: This film examines the political situation in Manipur, India, and documents public protests against human rights abuses by the State. The specific cases depicted include that of Manorama Thangiam who was kidnapped by the 17th battalion of Assam Rifles, and whose raped and bullet-ridden body was later found dumped on a roadside, the case of a 14 year old student who has never returned to his family after being taken by the army, and that of Sharmila Irom who has been fasting for eight years, demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 (AFSPA).
New State, Old Problems by The Campaign to Release Binayak Sen and Ajay T. G. [10 min, 2008]: Fifteen months ago, Dr. Binayak Sen, pediatrician, public health specialist and national Vice President of the People's Union for CivilLiberties(PUCL), was arrested on patently false charges of sedition, andcharged under the repressive "Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act."Concerned people from around the globe protested this arrest, includingAjay TG, a filmmaker and a colleague from PUCL, who made a movie documenting Dr. Sen's lifelong commitment to issues of community healthand human rights. Ironically, almost a year after Dr. Sen's arrest, AjayT.G. was also arrested under the same repressive laws. Dr. Sen and Ajay,both earned the ire of the government for opposing Salwa Judum.This film provides viewers with some background to the arrests ofDr. Sen and Ajay T.G., including brief introductions to the State ofChhattisgarh, the Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha, the Naxalites and Salwa Judum.
Anjam (The Consequence)by Ajay T. G. [20 min, 2008]A film on the life and work of Dr. Binayak Sen. Traces the evolution ofDr. Sen's life as an activist from his college days, to his involvement inthe miners' struggles in the Dalli Rajhara mines, and setting up theShaheed Hospital, and finally to a human rights activist as he recognizedthe inalienable bond between human rights and health rights.
The Other Side of the Boom by Special Broadcasting Services, AustraliaReporter: Jonathon Matthews. [22 min, 2008]The rural poor in central India feel left out of the financial windfallfrom India's economic success, and are increasingly turning their supportto the anti-government Maoist rebels known as "Naxalites". Videojournalist Jonathon Matthews seeks out the rebels – and thegovernment-backed vigilante group, Salwa Judum, that opposes them –to askwhether the terrible cycle of violence that's affecting two thirds of theIndian continent can possibly end. The ongoing violence has pittedneighbor against neighbor, converted the area into a civil war zone, withhundreds of villages burnt, scores of people murdered, entire communitiesdisplaced and at least 50,000 people forced into squalid government camps.
Sunday, September 7, 11am-2pm
Development Flows From the Barrel of a Gun by Biju Toppo and Meghnath[56 minutes, 2003]: Questions state-sponsored development that doesn't takeinto account people's actual needs.
It’s A Boy! by Vani Subramanian [29 min, 2008]: explores theimbalance in sex ratios in Indian society caused by female foeticide andinfanticide, and the state’s promotion of gender selection technologies asa tool of population control. It presents various perspectives includingthat of feminist activists, religious leaders, elected officials, etc.Finally, the film offers a portrait of the pressures of patriarchy byinterviewing members of a matrilineal community in North-Eastern India,some members of which have begun to demand adherence to norms ofpatriarchy.
Resilient Rhythms by Gopal Menon [65 min, 2002]: An unflinching lookat the reality of issue of caste–based discrimination in contemporaryIndia, and the role of the state in perpetuating such discrimination.
