From Durban To Tomorrow and Plus Minus swept the audience at MIFF2020

 

Mumbai: Choodie Shivaram – “At the Altar of India’s Freedom INA Veterans of Malaysia’ captures the stories of valour and sacrifice of the Malaysian Indians who, as teenagers then, fought for India’s freedom from the distant lands of Southeast Asia. Many of them had never even seen India but still remember their homeland and Netaji Subash Chandra Bose”, said director Choodie Shivaram while talking about her documentary.

In the film, one can see INA veterans detail their war experiences, training and the impact that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had on their lives and young men and women hastened to support Netaji, leaving behind their homes, families and lives of comfort. The remarkable young women of the INA formed the Rani of Jhansi Regiment which was the first all-woman combat regiment in the world. Even to this day; these INA veterans who are nonagenarians continue to live by the lofty ideals of Netaji.

Dylan Mohan Gray

“From Durban To Tomorrow is a 40 minute documentary based on path breakers of human rights and health. It is shot in six countries and is helmed by five key protagonists who are pioneers in the field of health and sanitation”, said Dylan Mohan Gray. In the year 2000, mass protests of people living with HIV in the city of Durban, South Africa, radically transformed the global conversation about human rights in health, giving rise to a succession of unprecedented advances in public health for poor and marginalised communities all over the world. In the film, stories of five frontline advocates from different parts of the world add powerful dimension to this rapidly worsening crisis and the coming battle for a meaningful, universal human right to health.

Jyoti Kapur Das

Plus Minus, is an 18 minute short film starring Bhuvan Bam and Divya Dutta. “There was no deep thinking about the plot, the story just popped up and I made the film”, said Jyoti Kapur while discussing about the plot of her film.

Plus Minus and At the altar of India’s freedom are competing under the National Category and Durban to Tomorrow under International Category of 16th Mumbai International Film Festival.