I-View World Film Festival: 5 films to watch

The I-View World Film Festival will kick off on 10 December—International Human Rights Day. Over 50 fiction features, shorts and documentaries can be screened online for free on the Plexigo app from 10-20 December. “We are able to reach out across the globe through these films, which are the perfect gateway to open up universal conversations around identity/marginalities, gender/sexuality, climate change/justice, class/caste and oppression/migration in contemporary culture,” said Myna Mukherjee, founder and director of Engendered, an umbrella arts organization, in a statement.

There will also be four physical screenings in Gurgaon and Delhi: Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy (2020; read our interview with the director), Canada’s official entry to the Oscars, Rohena Gera’s Sir (2018) and Faraz Arif Ansari’s Sheer Qorma (2020) from India, and Sarmad Khoosat's Zindagi Tamasha (2019), Pakistan’s entry to the Oscars. From the titles being screened online, here are five we would recommend.

From Durban To Tomorrow (2020)

This documentary by Dylan Mohan Gray (Fire in the Blood) looks at human rights in health in the modern world. Through the work of five activists in South Africa, Guinea, Spain, Hungary and India, it takes a critical view of the failures worldwide in ensuring universal health care, and asks what can be done to remedy this.

The Sleepwalkers (2019)

A mother and her teen daughter spend the New Year with their extended clan in this film by Argentine writer-director Paula Hernández, which mines coming-of-age, marital and familial tensions. The Sleepwalkers is Argentina’s official entry to the Oscars.

And Then We Danced (2019)

This Georgian drama by Levan Akin premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. A love story between two male dancers, the film sparked off protests in Georgia. It also played at the Sundance Film Festival this year, and was Sweden’s entry for the foreign film category at the 2020 Oscars.

Maadathy (2019)

This Tamil film looks at a teenage girl belonging to the puthirai vannaar, an oppressed caste, and how she comes to symbolize their deity, Maadathy. Leena Manimekalai tackles two underserved subjects in Indian cinema—caste oppression and female sexuality—with a visual approach that’s beautiful and unflinching.

Nasir (2020)

A slow-burning Tamil drama from Arun Karthick that looks at the seemingly mundane life of a Muslim man who works in a sari shop in Coimbatore. Shot with an eye for detail by Saumyananda Sahi (Eeb Allay Ooo), Nasir explores the communal tensions simmering below the surface in modern India. The film premiered at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam.

Visit Plexigo.com for the full line-up and details on how to register and watch films. Read the FAQ section for information on certain films which can only be watched once.