Reflecting Images – Masters
Gulabi Gang Nishtha Jain
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Sampat Pal is from an area of northern India plagued by drought, poverty and corruption. Life there is tough for the people at the bottom of the traditional caste system, the dalits (untouchables) and women. Violence and intimidation are business as usual. Sampat became aware of the unfairness of the system at an early age. In 2006, she founded Gulabi Gang, an organization run by and for women. It raises the issue of injustice against women and dalits and teaches them how to defend themselves. The group goes from village to village dressed in pink saris and armed with sticks. The organization currently has several thousand members spread over a large area. The film documents their struggle, showing the women at recruitment meetings, investigating the death by burning of a young woman and attending to various domestic conflicts. They are fearless, and they won’t rest until an official investigation is started and the perpetrators are punished. But will they be equally persistent when their own families are involved, or will traditions gain the upper hand after all?
Norway, India, Denmark, 2012 DCP 2K, color, 107 min Director: Nishtha Jain Photography: Rakesh Haridas Screenplay: Torstein Grude, Nishtha Jain Editing: Arjun Gourisaria Sound: Niraj Gera, Peter Schultz Music: Peter Scartabello Production: Torstein Grude for Piraya Film Co-Production: Raintree Films, Final Cut for Real World Sales: Kudos Family Distribution Distribution for the Benelux: IDFA Fund Screening Copy: Norwegian Film Institute Involved TV Channel: NRK
Nishtha Jain:
City of Photos (2005) Call it Slut (2006) Six Yards to Democracy (2006) Lakshmi and Me (2008) At My Doorstep (2009) Family Album (2010)
Awards: The Golden Chair for Best Documentary Norwegian Short Film Festival
Head Games Steve James
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Christopher Nowinski is a Harvard graduate and former football player and wrestler. For 12 months, he was plagued by headaches, nausea and sleepwalking, and it ultimately meant an end to his athletic career. A friend suggested that he go to a medical specialist, and that’s where Nowinski discovered he had probably suffered brain damage. Over the years, he had gotten perhaps a hundred concussions that were never diagnosed as such, and Nowinski is by no means an exception. Scientific research suggests that brain damage is widespread among American athletes, especially those playing ice hockey, football and soccer. The consequences can be dramatic. One 40-year-old former athlete tried to strangle his son of 14; a few weeks later, this same man committed suicide in front of his wife, with his children in the next room. More and more stories of this kind have been appearing in recent years. The problem is that it’s only possible to diagnose the damage with any certainty posthumously – and there’s no treatment for it, anyway. But it’s difficult to convince American youth, or their parents and coaches, of the dangers – especially when sports are so important for both individual triumph and communities. Besides, being a crybaby just isn’t cool.
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USA, 2012 DCP, color, 92 min Director: Steve James Photography: Dana Kupper, Keith Walker Editing: David E. Simpson Sound: Richard K. Pooler Music: Billy Corgan, Craig Snider Production: Bruce Sheridan for Head Games The Film, LLC Executive Production: Steve Devick for Head Games The Film, LLC Screening Copy: Head Games The Film, LLC Website: www.headgamesthefilm.com
Steve James:
Hoop Dreams (1994), Prefontaine (fiction, 1997), Passing Glory (fiction, 1999), Joe and Max (fiction, 2001) Stevie (2002), The New Americans (Nigerian Episode) (2004), Reel Paradise (2005), No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2009), The Interrupters (2011), a.o.
Steve James & Peter Gilbert:
At the Death House Door (2008)