Professional Category
1. All Rise for Your Honour
(English, Hindi / 1:18:00 / 2012 / New Delhi, Punjab, UP, MP / Sumit Khanna)

The Constitution of India defines and declares the nation state’s common goal – to secure to the entire citizen’s of India, justice – social, economic and political, liberty; equality and fraternity. However, serious problems beset the judicial system as a result of which it is largely dysfunctional, unaccountable and inaccessible, especially to the poor. The film is an attempt to decipher the judicial process in India from the standpoints of all the stakeholders: people who are the seekers of justice, lawyers who are the intermediaries of justice and the Judiciary that dispensed justice; in the process, understanding how far we are removed from the constitutional vision of justice.

2. Bicycle Journey – A Story Unbelievable
(English / 00:18:00 / India / Ashijit Ganguli)

Cycling across the World has been a passion turned full time profession of Mr. Ram Chandra Biswas. For almost 3 decades now he has been cycling across Countries and Continents spreading the message of peace and fraternity. A cyclist extraordinaire, he hails from Kolkata. Overcome by a strong sense of wanderlust has logged 627,200 kilometres which almost equals a return journey from the moon and visited 157 Countries. Mr Ram Chandra Biswas commenced his journey with one dollar in his pocket. A tour around the globe even by bicycle would require huge finances. But he has stock answer when he is asked about how he arranged money for airfare, food and accommodation for his World tour. “The Wold is full of good people. God is providing everything free” explains Biswas. Along his journey he performs magical tricks and does paintings to cover some of his expenses.

3. Breaking The Silence
(English/ 00:31:31/ Ishani K Dutta)

Life for transport sector workers is tough, to say the least. It takes an immense amount of courage for women to step into this dominantly male domain. Once men sense that they are threatened by the presence of women in their space, they resort to means that would make the women as uncomfortable as possible.

The film looks at sexual harassment at the workplace, focusing on the transport sector workers. The film aims to bring awareness on this topic, and inspire women to get the courage to speak out.

4. Dilli
(English, Bengali and Hindi/0:18:30/Delhi/ Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh)

Millions of people across India leave behind their homes and families, in the hope of finding a better life in Delhi. Completing 100 years as the capital of modern India, Delhi today stands at the crossroads of time. Dilli raises critical questions about urbanization and development through the personal stories of its people and explores the social and spatial landscape of a city that dreams of becoming a super mega polis. Shot in the heart of this bustling mega polis, Dilli finds its storytellers in the men, women and children who are the invisible hands that continue to build this city of dreams.

5. Dudro
(No dialogue/ 00:05:30/ Delhi/ Dhanya Pilo)

We meander through the chaotic landscape of a large cycle rickshaw yard in Nizamuddin (E), Delhi to experience the various narratives that are incubating in it.

The winter light juxtaposed through the complex stacking of the red & blue cycle rickshaws’ highlights the individual frame of these vehicles calling out to the rickshaw wala to do a Jugalbandi. The rickshawalla reacts to the quiet, sleepy yard and its inhabitants using absurd as well as day-to-day movements.

6. I Was Born In Delhi
(Hindi and Bengali/ 1:33:00/ New Delhi and Orissa/ Bishnu Dev Halder)

Two sisters, Josna & Hasina run away from poverty, marriage and their impending kitchen centric life in the village to the city for a new life, only to be hounded by insecurity six years later.

Ironically, they now find marriage to be their only path to a secure and respectable future. But will the harsh social realities allow them to have a happy and secure future? The film follows the sisters for five years and documents their changing priorities over the period of times; the choices they make and the impact of the same on their lives.

7. Sacred Space
(Manipuri/00:52:00/ Manipur/ Dr. Kaushik Gupta Ray)

The film seeks to explore the lives of the Maibi female priestesses of the Meitei religin in context of tradition and modernity.

8. Shifting Undercurrents – Seaweed Collectors of Gulf of Mannar
(English/ 00:20:00/ Gulf of Mannar/ Rita Banerji)

This is a moving account of women divers/seaweed collectors struggling to regain a hold on their much-curtailed activities in the Gulf of Mannar National Marine Park. Each morning, they ride out into the Gulf of Mannar waters as a first light begins to brighten the skies overhead. Arriving, the women take a deep breath and dive into the cloudy waters to handpick seaweed. They have been pursuing their activity undisturbed until recent years.

Ever since the Park was declared as protected, all resource users have been halted. But despite the continued presence of large-scale industrial pollution, overfishing and even commercial seaweed cultivation, most of the enforcement activities have been centered around some 5000 women who free-dive with minimal equipment, to handpick a few abundant species of wild seaweed to be sold to buyers like Nestle ad Himalaya. Sadly, the women’s efforts to comply with regulations have come to no avail, and they are still treated as “thieves”. In an ironic turn of events, the large-scale cultivation of invasive seaweed is allowed (though it has recently began killing coral patches within the park)! The many sided discussions and continued struggles shed light on the SHIFTING UNDERCURRENTS of the women’s efforts to gain respect for their profession of over 30 years at sea.

9. The Last Page / Oduvilathe Thaal
(English and Malayalam/ 00:54:53 / Kerala / Unnikrishnan Avala)

This documents the life in Death/Death in life situation of three primitive tribes of Ernad, Malaappuram and Kerala, India. The Last Page of a tribe that happened to desert their own identities.

The unpardonable tales of deception plotted by the civil society and bureaucracy. Shocking episodes of forced sterilization, genocide and gang rapes. This documentary reveals the pangs of tribal girls forced into flesh trade and later happened to be the carriers of ELISA. You just can’t flee away from these frames.

10. The Rat Race
(English, Hindi, Marathi/ 00:52:00/India/ Miriam Chandy Menacherry)

The Rat Race winds its way through the grimy underbelly of Mumbai, through dimly lit alleys and crowded markets to tell the story of the city’s rat killers. Using the vehicle of the rat the documentary explores issues of livelihood, sanitation and development to paint a moving account of India at the crossroads and provide the human face of development with all its contradictions. It is the rare documentary that got a theatre release in 3 Indian metros and won critical acclaim.

11. The World’s Most Fashionable Prison
(English/ 1:06:57 / Philippines/ Mak CK)

Flamboyant, gay and witty, Puey is the stereotypical fashion designer on the surface. As the only son of a retired policeman, it seems ironic that he now enjoys an unlikely bond with criminals serving time. In autumn 2011, he will be their mentor as the inmates work in teams to compete in a month-long fashion competition inspired by U.S. reality series Project Runway. It all culminates in the most spectacular event of the year – a runway show with a catwalk, professional models, and a panel of fashion industry judges, right in the heart of the prison.

12. We Are Foot Soldiers
(Bengali/00:26:00/ 2011/ Kolkata/ Debolina Dutta & Oishik Sircar)

In 2005, children of sex workers in Kolkata’s Sonagachhi red light district came together to form their own organization, Amra Padatik (Foot Soldiers), drawing inspiration from the work that their mothers have been doing to demand their right to sex work as work. The film journeys through the lives of AmraPadatik members whose entangled realities do not paint a picture of helplessness, but of political assertiveness and social consciousness.

13. Who Killed Chea Vichea
(English / Khmer/ 00:56:40/ January 2011/ Cambodia / Bradley Cox)

One sunny morning in 2004, a motorcycle pulled up to a corner newsstand in Phnom Penh. Chea Vichea, the president of Cambodia’s garment workers union, looked up from his paper–and was executed on the spot. Under pressure from human rights groups and foreign aid donors, the police quickly arrested two local men. They were sentenced to twenty years in prison. Were they guilty, or was their conviction part of a larger plan? Banned in Cambodia, WHO KILLED CHEA VICHEA? is a front-row seat to a world of corruption that you will never forget.

Student Catgory
1. Breakin’ Mumbai
(Hindi / 00:32:53 / Mumbai / Sandeep Kr. Singh, Aakriti Kohli, Sumit Singh, Shweta Ghosh and Gin Khan Siam)

Gani, a 21-year old, has done many things for a living: bag-making, embroidery work and working at a call centre. 18-year old Aman studies in school. He loves eating mangoes and chenna-murgi. He sketches and plays cricket.

The two have very little in common, but there is one thing that binds them- Breaking, a dance form that started back in the 70s in the Bronx, New York. Since then, it has grown popular across countries and has moulded itself to fit into specific cultures. This film looks at what it means to be a breaker in Mumbai, how breaking becomes a site of expression of subaltern youth cultures and what it means to win and lose battles. Through the personal lives of Gani, Aman and their friends, the film tries to understand the dynamics of breaking, and explores questions of space and the avenues for leisure in Mumbai.

2. City’s Edge
(Hindi/ 00:18:33/ Mumbai/ Sandeep Kumar Singh, Shweta Radhakrishnan, Sharib Ali, Gin Khan Siam and Abhishekh Yadav)

The Deonar Dumping Ground is the largest dumping ground in Asia. Everyday, thousands of trucks deposit half of all the garbage that the city produces. And everyday most of it finds its way back- picked and processed by the many men, women and children who make a living off the waste of the city. The dump is a powerful symbol of most of the city’s people who are constantly dumped, recycled, and dumped again, while perpetually remaining out of sight.The film explores this space through Mohammad Hussain aka Babu, a young ragpicker and Haroon, a local scrap dealer.

3. Cycle of Life
(English/ 00:11:31/ Jagadhri and Saharanpu / Vishal Sharma)

The film ‘CYCLE OF LIFE’ is based on the life of Street performer Imtiaz Khan (Pappu Bharti) a trick cyclist from Jagadhri. The film delves deeper into the problems of street performers across the country. From a super star of stunt cycle, Pappu Bharti is now slipping into anonymity and finding it hard to carry on with his profession.

This film reflects how street performers are facing hard times due to no support of the government and local administration. If local administration becomes a little more sensitive to the conditions of street performers it can turn the tide and may be it can help in restoring the lost glory of street performers.

4. Dimond Band
(Hindi, Gujarati/00:17:00/Ahmedabad/ Samridhi Dasot)

The film revolves around a wedding music band called Dimond Band exploring the profession, the personal lives and background of the members and their equation as a team.

5. Hide Under My Sole
(Hindi,Punjabi,English / 0:25:00 / Punjab / Shradha Jain)

Covering the craft pockets situated in the Malwa belt of Punjab, this film is an endeavour to celebrate the craft of Jutti making and applauds the artisans, which have put their heart and soul in it. More than the physical endurance, it highlights the emotional aspects of the craftsmen involved and thus speaks volume of the different people from varied castes and backgrounds. The viewer gets an insight on the details involved in craft of Jutti making. The process has been shown in a non-linear way, right from a tannery, where the raw hide is being prepared, up to the exquisitely hand-embroidered Juttis. This film is thus a tribute to all the artisans who truly are the hidden souls. (Soles)