Focus: The Shape of Things to Come?
Programma IFFR 2023
In 2022, India celebrated the 75th anniversary of independence. But is really all well in the ‘world’s largest democracy’? Both documentaries and fictional narratives reflect on the socio-political development of the past 30 years – and ask: Is the institutional success of right-wing Hindu-nationalist groups and the persecution of dissenting voices a sign for the shape of things to come – and not only in India?
Overview of films
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An Election Diary + In the Name of God
Two films from IFFR’s programme reflecting on the socio-political development of India in the past 30 years.
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Which Colour?
Tender, trailblazing vignettes from the quotidian life of a working-class family on a historic day.
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The Men in the Tree
An unsettling glimpse into a far-right paramilitary outfit through the eyes of young trainees.
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Love in the Time of Malaria
A constipated king declares war on insurgent mosquitoes in an absurdist political musical comedy.
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Lords of Lockdown
Volunteer groups supply relief to stranded migrant workers in an uplifting portrait of civic responsibility.
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A Knock on the Door
Persecuted academics fight a disbelieving world in an idiosyncratic, deliciously stylised psychological thriller.
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Kali of Emergency
The goddess Kali takes human form in an inscrutable, transfixing avant-garde work.
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In the Name of God
A chilling record of a historic Hindu nationalist rally seeking the destruction of a mosque.
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In hi ko
India’s lockdown-induced horrors come under the microscope in a heady, evocative media collage.
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I Am Offended
A revealing, uncensored survey of stand-up comedy in India, its possibilities and its limitations.
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