Kashmir film festival: Moving tales from a troubled valley

CHENNAI: The sincere efforts of dedicated filmmakers have ensured that the troubles of people in Kashmir don’t remain untold.
The moving tales on view during ‘Kashmir Before Our Eyes,’ the Chennai edition of possibly the first-ever festival exclusively featuring movies on Kashmir, are a tribute to these directors’ art.
The four-day festival organised by Ajay Raina and Pankaj Rishi for Films Division at the Asian College of Journalism will end on Monday with Musa Sayeed’s ‘Valley of Saints.’ The 2012 romance tells the story of Gulzar, a boatman on Dal Lake whose plans to flee to the city are thwarted by a curfew.
Most films depict those widowed or orphaned during the long period of militarisation in the valley. Culture critic Sadanand Menon said the movies were not just about conflicts. “They show us real life incidents in remote corners of the valley where the film crew must have been protected by the army or police while shooting.”
The point that comes through powerfully, especially in ‘The Long Autumn after Winter: Inshallah Kashmir – Living in Terror’ directed by Ashvin Kumar and ‘Jashn-e-Azadi’ directed by Sanjay Khak, is that the people are forced to live in an atmosphere of fear.
Movies screened in the festival shows a population that is forced to live under the surveillance of army camps and military check posts, where ‘people don't speak openly, fearing harassment and persecution. ‘
‘The Long Autumn after Winter: Inshallah Kashmir – Living in Terror’ directed by Ashvin Kumar tells the story of a population that is controlled by hundreds of troops of Indian armed forces, each with its own intelligence agency that closely monitors the flow of information.
‘Jashn-e-Azadi’, a 2007 movie directed by Sanjay Khak explores the many meanings of freedom, or Azadi – in Kashmir. ‘Where Have You Hidden My New Crescent Moon’ (2009) directed by Iffat Fatima, ‘Tell Them, The Tree They Had Planted Is Now Grown’ (2011) by Ajay Raina were some of the movies featured in the festival.