The main objection of RSS volunteers was towards the festival being dedicated to the memory of Prof. G. N. Saibaba and thousands of Palestinian children killed in the ongoing genocide.

Groundxero | Nov. 17, 2024

The 9th edition of the Udaipur Film Festival is being held from November 15–17, 2024, at the NLT Auditorium in RNT Medical College, Udaipur. On the second day of the Film Festival, due to pressure and terrorizing of RSS activists, the RNT medical college administration forcefully stopped the film screenings at the venue and revoked the permission.

Udaipur Film Festival is organised as part of the Cinema of Resistance movement (COR). Cinema of Resistance is a grassroot film screening initiative which focuses on bringing alternative films or new cinema to the people. Since it organized the Gorakhpur Film Festival in 2006, COR has been forming an expansive network of screening spaces across North India. It strive to bring meaningful cinema to small towns, villages and community venues.

The second day of the festival featured two Palestinian films, which seeks to honour Palestinian children impacted by the Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The films screened were Michel Khleifi’s “Ma’aloul Celebrates The Death of Its Destruction”. Since the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948, countless Palestinian villages have been erased from the map. Ma’loul Celebrates Its Destruction uses poignant images of bombardments, destroyed buildings, and disfigured people to illustrate this. All that remains are ruins, bearing silent witness in the landscape. Ma’loul, just west of Nazareth, is one such ruined village.  It was inhabited principally by Palestinian Christians, who were forced to leave in 1948 during the Israeli War.  But Ma’loul also lives on in the memories of its former — now elderly — inhabitants, who tell the story of exactly what happened. which reflects the tragedies of Palestinians.

The other Palestine film screened was Dr. Louise Brehony’s “Kofia: A Revolution Through Music”, an award-winning, internationally released documentary film about the Palestinian band Kofia (كوفية/’kuffieh’), formed in Gothenburg, Sweden, by songwriter George Totari, who fled his native Palestine in 1967. Facing racist Israeli colonisation, George and fellow Palestinian musicians teamed up with Swedish leftist performers and formed a band which would tour the world and release four albums dedicated to the Palestinian cause.

After the objections raised by RSS activists, a long meeting was held in the college principal’s room between the representatives of the Udaipur Film society and RSS volunteers which did not yield any result and the administration forcefully cancelled the rest of the festival. In the cinema hall there were many important directors, technicians and actors present and a large number of local audiences which had come from different cities of Rajasthan. All the visitors were disappointed that the screenings were stopped in such a manner.

The main objection of RSS volunteers was towards the festival being dedicated to the memory of Prof. G. N. Saibaba and thousands of Palestinian children killed in the ongoing genocide. The representatives of the Udaipur Film Society said that they consider every single act of genocide a human tragedy and are ready to give homage to all the victims of such genocidal acts however they refused to agree to the conditions presented by RSS volunteers that the film society must apologize for dedicating the festival to Palestinian children. The Udaipur Film Society strongly believes that it is every peace loving human’s duty to oppose and condemn the continuing genocide in Palestine. The RSS miscreants also used abusive language for Prof. G. N. Saibaba and called him a terrorist. It is to note that Prof. G. N. Saibaba had a large fraternity of students in Delhi University and had to spend 10 years in the Jail as unlawful detention under the draconian UAPA. The Supreme Court of India trashed all the charges against him with strong comments on administration over his unlawful detention and he was released from all charges. However, being 90 percent physically disabled and having suffered the severe unlawful Jail torture, just in six months from the time he was released, he departed from the world.

Udaipur Film Society’s representatives also met the district collector Mr. Arvind Poswal, however he expressed his utter helplessness in the face of social miscreants. The irony was the ball passing game between the District Collector and the College administration both of them asking the film society to receive permission from each other. It is to note that when the festival was illegally and forcefully stopped, the local police’s representative C.I. himself was present there.

Udaipur Film Festival is the national partner of the long standing Cinema of Resistance movement. National convener of Cinema of Resistance Sanjay Joshi condemned the incident in the strongest terms and said that neither Cinema nor any form of art can be stopped by such elements and the people’s cinema will ultimately reach people by any means. He also called unfortunate the lack of sensitivity towards thousands of children brutally murdered in the genocide amidst the ongoing wave of communal hatred in the country.

The convener of Udaipur Film Society Rinku Parihar shared that the Udaipur Film Society had followed all due processes in securing the permission from the venue R. N. T. medical college and had submitted the necessary rental two months ago. Despite this, due to pressure and terrorizing of social miscreants the festival was halted by the administration of the college. It is tragic that when the festival venue was barged by these miscreants, Shabnam Virmani’s film Had Anhad was being screened that has become an anthem for communal harmony in a documentary in cinema carrying the message of poet Kabir. She said that the festival will continue no matter how much pressure is exerted and on 17th November the rest of the films will be shown at the new venue A-9, Ashok Nagar, Near Sandeshwar Mahadev temple in Udaipur.

New space of the 9th Udaipur Film Festival getting ready.

Based on a Press release by Rinku Parihar

Convener, Udaipur Film Festival

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11/17/2024