Having watched black and white reels before every commercial film from my childhood years, and discussed “underground political (documentary) films” with my trade unionist and freedom fighter nana [maternal grandfather], I was super excited when, as a young student, I was introduced to women documentary filmmakers through Mediastorm—an independent video collective from the city’s Jamia Millia Islamia University, which aims to bring forth voices from the world of documentary cinema that made the personal political!
As an activist and a practitioner, I started watching ‘documentaries’ on social movements, issues, and stories of people from the ground. This is also when I began to understand that a documentary filmmaker’s journey is replete with struggle in terms of production and audience. As a viewer, I realised that the people watching these films were few. In fact, I was aware back then that this is what needed to change if we wanted to create a world that is equal, sustainable, just, and peaceful.
From then to now, we have a growing community of independent filmmakers—women and across genders—who create ‘documentaries’. Our film club has been screening documentaries for about 23 years, and the audience is growing… but it is not enough! From our workplace to communities, schools to colleges, spaces like India Habitat Centre, India International Centre (IIC), and other such venues in Delhi-NCR to even on our online portal, where we began screening films amid the pandemic, it takes a lot of effort to convince people to watch a documentary!
At such a time, the Guneet Monga produced, Kartiki Gonsalves-directorial The Elephant Whisperers’ win at the Oscars 2023 is a collective win for women and documentary filmmakers. In fact, this victory is a ray of hope to help get more viewers for this genre of cinema.
For me, Shaunak Sen’s All that Breathes is also a win for the story it tells and how! Indian documentaries deserve and also need this moment, as the narrative of storytelling is enriching and powerful for the mind and soul in more ways than one. I hope that this win at the Oscars will push every Indian to see ‘homegrown documentaries’ that delve into real stories of people, places, and politics… sometimes ‘neutral’, sometimes ‘controversial’, sometimes ‘banal’… informative, inspiring, introspective… or even witty, entertaining, and energising and more!
There are so many more documentaries waiting to be watched and screened, and so many more waiting to be supported with resources that can take them to a larger audience. With March designated as Women’s History Month, The Elephant Whisperers’ triumph is also for two filmmakers who have made ‘her-story’, historically speaking. This is a window for grassroots’ and community filmmakers including Khabar Lahariya, Chambal Academy, and The Third Eye, women filmmaker collectives such as the IAWRT Asian Women's Film Festival (it begins on March 15 at the IIC), Women in Cinema Collective, Bitchitra Collective, and women in the Indian documentary space to be seen and supported for the content and images they create everyday with limited and no budgets for production and distribution.
So which documentary are you watching today... Writing with Fire (2021), All that Breathes (2022), Against the Tide (2023), or the thousands more unknown and amazing ones?
The author, Aanchal Kapur, is the founder of Kriti Film Club, a documentary screening initiative of the non-profit organisation KRITI, which is a development praxis and communication team.
