Dear Friends,
There was an attempt by the Hindu right wing to disrupt the screenings yesterday at the VIBGYOR Film Festival (Feb 22 to 25) in Trichur, Kerala (http://www.vibgyorfilmfest.com ).They have filed a police complaint against the festival too.
Vibgyor Film Festival organised an Open Forum entitled ‘Censorious State/Civil Society’ yesterday, where the issue was discussed atlength and the declaration attached was endorsed and signed by over a hundred people. Some supporters of the Hindu right also attended and there was an animated discussion on Amudhan’s film and on what constitutes ‘nation’ and ‘national interest’. The point was made that in a democratic society we need to discuss our differences, as was being done at the open forum, rather than trying to ban and stop work that one disagrees with. Earlier, there was a threat from them that they would move the court to stop the festival.
We also decided to make 100 copies of Amudhan’s Vande Mataram and Shit and distribute them all over Kerala (and elsewhere) and to organise screenings. There has been tremendous solidarity from filmmakers and concerned citizens on this issue.
It will be good if you are arranging the screenings of this films in various parts of India.
~ Regards
Anivar Aravind
Mob: +91 9895803545