The wind was blowing differently for a few days, the streets were getting emptier, the police was making its rounds and telling people to go back home. There was a lot of noise about a virus that was spreading and coming closer to home, Many countries had started to go into lockdown. My city (and yours too) faced restrictions.
A silence was unfolding, but the noise within was still very loud—fear, anxiety, and stress were taking over all around us. The morning of March 21, 2020, I thought, “Why not share some films that calm, entertain, connect and distract people while they begin to stay home?”
And that’s how the Kriti Film Club launched its list of recommendations.
The Kriti Film Club is an independent documentary screening initiative by the non-profit organisation, Kriti: development praxis and communication team that’s based in New Delhi and Mumbai. As the days went by, with working classes began their long walk home, displaced from their homes and livelihood, another virus of communal hate becoming headlines, as the economic crisis looming large, and as #StayHome #StaySafe #WFH became life for many of us, the Kriti Film Club’s lockdown journey came alive online!
Tanushree Angrish, who has been a Kriti team volunteer for the last 10 years, called me up to say she loved the curation and then offered to help this independent effort amidst work-from-home and domestic chores each day. And here we are, sharing our film resources that we’ve collected over 20 years! We hope you are watching and if not, get hooked today!
This one to give you calm.
These two films to connect you to the forests!
This one to connect us across divides!
This one to walk with Kabir!
This one to follow the Kabir path!
This one to think secular!
This one on the occasion of World Theatre Day!
This one to celebrate women’s labour!
Dance With Hands Held Tight from Earthcare Productions on Vimeo.
This one to mark World Water Day week!
This one on nostalgia!
This one to celebrate ‘community’!
This one to respect our natural resources!
We also recommend this one by Sonata Gay Dkhar.
And we loved this one by Supriyo Sen.
This one for the weekend lockdown dance!
The weekend dancing continues in style!
This one on sexuality and disability!
A World Health Day special.
This one to watch with children!
This one to appreciate what ‘home’ means!
IN SEARCH OF MY HOME from Black Ticket Films on Vimeo.
And finally, this one with music on the streets.
The Kriti Film Club has been, for two decades, offering its audiences a selection of films that you may not get to see on mainstream platforms. The films are as amazing and even more than what you may be watching! The whole idea of the Film Club is to place #ThoughtProvoking cinema in a discussion group that will help to deepen people’s understanding of social and development issues. Documentaries that connect us to real lives and issues—before, during, and after COVID19—they offer us a chance to gain empathy and the personal capacity to support the more vulnerable. They enable us to make socially sensitive, gender-just, and sustainable choices. That’s the power of these films, made for both the young and old, made by both professional and student filmmakers.
We have been hosting physical screenings throughout these years, and now we’re taking this initiative into the virtual world too. Apart from film, we also support the livelihoods of 2200 resource poor community producers whose products are sold by Gestures India.
Kriti continues its work through contributions from individuals supports. If you’d like to donate contact Kriti Film Club on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.