May Screenings (Online)

WRITING WITH FIRE

• Director: Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
• INDIA / 2021 / H264 / Colour / 93’ / Hindi ; Turkish s.t.

• Director of Photography: Sushmit Ghosh, Karan Thapliyal
• Editing: Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
• Music: Tajdar Junaid
• Cast: Katılanlar With: Meera, Suneeta, Shyamkali
• Producer: Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
• Production Co.: Black Ticket Films
• World Sales: autlook filmsales

This film is screened within the No More Flowers section.

Theme Sponsor

2021 Sundance Audience Award–World Cinema/Documentary, Special Jury Award–Impact for Change

In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges Khabar Lahariya, India’s only news network run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, be it on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues or within the confines of their homes, redefining what it means to be powerful. Their stories range from the incompetence of the local police force, victims of caste and gender violence, or injustice and intimidation. Examining how storytelling can create in the digital era, Writing with Fire follows the team as they switch from print to digital. Dalit women are a group characterised as "untouchable" within the caste system, and Thomas and Gosh state, the team "are chipping away at one of the cruellest systems of social hierarchy and exclusion." So, when these women empower themselves, they become the voice of those who are voiceless.

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.