Renowned filmmaker Anand Patwardhan never fears talking about the truths of society. In a recent interview, Anand spoke about his film, Vivek.
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Four years ago, the film “Vivek” completed its four-and-a-half-hour screening at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The documentary film made many people raise questions about the filmmaker as the film revolves around the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh in 2017 and the assassination of activist Narendra Dabholkar in 2013.
On this, TIFF’s former artistic director, Cameron Bailey, said that the film is a depiction of how documentary filmmaking is a work of courage. Hence, it is a very significant film, and everyone must watch it.
Along with Anand Patwardhan’s Vivek, there were many other documentary films lined up from around the world. Werner Herzog, Michael Moore, and Rithy Panh are some of the veteran documentary filmmakers who were present at the documentary film festival. After two months, ‘Vivek’ won the Best Feature-Length Documentary Award at IDFA. It is the first Indian documentary film to get recognition at the world’s biggest documentary film festival. The event was held in the Netherlands.
Documentaries that represented India internationally
Another Indian documentary film is poised for international success more than five years later. Two films have been nominated in the documentary categories: “All That Breathes” by Delhi-based Shaunak Sen and “The Elephant Whisperers” by Ooty-based Kartiki Gonsalves. Both films have a chance to break new ground at the March 12 Oscars, which will be held in Los Angeles. It is the first time two Indian films are competing for top honours in both documentary categories at the Academy Awards in the same year. All That Breathes is nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Award, and The Elephant Whisperers is nominated for the Best Documentary Short.
The Indian documentary format has stolen the show at the Academy Awards for the past two years in a row. Last year, one more documentary film from India was nominated for Best Documentary Feature but couldn’t win the award. The film was ‘Writing With Fire’ by Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas. The documentary was based on the story of a Dalit woman from Uttar Pradesh who ran a newspaper called “Khabar Lahariya” with the intention of altering the political and social landscape. The awards that Indian documentaries have received recently are the result of a movement that has been well-established and supported by well-known figures like Supriyo Sen, Pan Nalin, Vijaya Mulay, and Faiza Ahmad Khan.
Documentaries reflecting society
In 2016, the international festival circuit dominated the documentary film “Machines.” It was the debut documentary from Delhi-born director Rahul Jain. Jain’s second film, Invisible Demons, which is about Delhi’s air pollution, had its Cannes premiere after five years. Machines that travelled to the IDFA and Sundance film festivals looked at the oppressive working conditions of factory workers in the textile plant of Gujrat. Jain holds a master’s degree in aesthetics and politics from the California Institute of the Arts in the US. In Invisible Demons, he focused his attention on the current geological era, which is characterised by the adverse effects of human activity on the planet.
In the past two years, Indian documentaries have received astounding recognition at the high table of international documentary films. Three Indian documentaries, A Night of Knowing Nothing by Payal Kapadia, Invisible Demons by Rahul Jain, and Writing With Fire by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, respectively, dazzled audiences around the globe in 2021 alone with their sharp wit and beautiful aesthetics.
