Tadpashchaat (...and later). That was the title of the opening film at 'Retracing Freedom,' the alternative film festival organised as students and ex-students from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) took to a parallel venue for showcasing their cinema denied entry into the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
The event has been planned over the last three days after two ex-students from FTII, Kishlay and Shubham, were arrested and roughed up by the police for protesting at the end of the IFFI’s opening ceremony. A manifesto issued along with the screening schedule calls it a step towards “reclaiming our freedom of thought and artistic expression that is under relentless attack currently across the country.”
Speaking ahead of the event, Kishlay called it a measure of last resort. “These films would have been part of IFFI had they allowed it,” he said. Students from FTII and three other premier film institutes from the country — Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata, AJ Kidwai Mass Communication Research Centre and MGR Governing Film and Television Institute in Chennai — were left in the lurch on not finding the ‘students’ films’ section in the IFFI schedule last week.
Speaking further about ‘Retracing Freedom,’ Kishlay added: “We are facing threats on a daily basis. A student was arrested for wearing an FTII T-shirt two days ago. The authorities refused to allow us permission though all these films have been certified and some have even won national awards.”
Kishlay also said about 10 students, who had received permits as delegates to attend IFFI, were being denied admission as their registration was cancelled without any explanation.
The event has been made possible due to the efforts of Fr. Maverick Fernandes, head of the Centre for Social Justice and Peace, who was issued warnings against holding it the night before.
The event did get started and it had support from eminent personalities, including filmmaker and ex-FTII president, Saeed Akhtar Mirza who was present at the event as a mark of solidarity. Expressing admiration for the rebellion against intolerance and ideological imposition at FTII, Mirza said the protesting students, steeled as they were by the ordeals, will go on to become great filmmakers.
The wave of protests at the FTII can be traced back to June, when television personality Gajendra Chauhan was appointed as its chairman. Though the 139-day student strike was later called off, there have been great difficulties faced by the students in pursuing their day-to-day academic interests.
