Part of Changing the Picture (2020)
Friday, January 24, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room

Screening followed by discussion with Anand Silodia about the plight of Bahujan peoples in India

Dir. Pratik Parmar, in collaboration with the collective Ahmedabad Talkies. 2016, 46 mins. Digital projection. In Gujarati and Hindi with English subtitles.  

Project Heartland is a collection of short documentary films by director Pratik Parmar telling the stories of Dalit-Bahujan folks across the Indian state of Gujarat, chronicling caste atrocities and acts of superhuman resistance. From the infamous Una flogging incident where seven members of a Dalit family were assaulted by a group of dominant caste vigilantes under the pretext of cow protection, to the frustration and despair of Muslim Bahujan citizens seeking political rights, the series offers a critical lens on what shapes and un-shapes political agency within Gujarat and India as a whole. This program is presented as the young director prepares his next endeavor, Jal, Jungle, Zameen, a socio-political feature-length documentary that examines the current predicament of Adivasis (indigenous people) in Gujarat, their resistance to illegal land-grabbing, and the displacement caused by dams and the industrial corridor. 

Episode 1: What do Muslims of Godhra Expect from Upcoming Gujarat Election?
Episode 2: Plight and Assertion of Valmikis
Episode 3: Milk and Caste
Episode 4: The Land Struggle of Ramji Bhai
Episode 5: When a Dalit Woman Leads
Episode 6: Straight from the Tannery

Anand Silodia is a Bahujan writer active on Quora and Roundtable India. 

Tickets: $15 ($11 seniors and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / free or discounted for Museum members. Order tickets online. (Members may contact [email protected] with questions regarding online reservations.) 

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