Salim Baba; My Body, My Weapon; You Cannot Hide From Allah; Three Blind Men
FOUR SHORT FILMS (44min)
Venue: The British Museum – BP Theatre
UK Première
Salim Baba
Director: Tim Sternberg, 2007, USA, 15min
In North Kolkata, India, the 55-year-old Salim Muhammad earns a living with his mobile cinema – a hand-cranked film projector, made in 1897, wheeled around the town on a wooden cart. He buys old film trailers from the local markets and, using a tailor’s shears, razor blade and tape, edits the scraps together into new films for his discerning audience of neighbourhood children, who appreciate “dialogue, music and fighting – without having to wait too long”.
Multi award winning short film, nominated for best documentary short at the 2008 Oscars.
UK Première
My Body, My Weapon
Director: Kavita Joshi, 2007, India, 9min
Irom Sharmila has been on hunger strike for over 5 years. In a desperate attempt to halt the killings and arrests by the military in north east India, she used the only means of protest over which she had any control and began refusing food. Now imprisoned for the crime of ‘attempting suicide’ she is force-fed by tube – but refuses to give up until either she is dead or the military withdraw.
This is one of a series of films made for Why Democracy?, a documentary project using film to start a global conversation about democracy. For more information see www.whydemocracy.net
UK Première
You Cannot Hide From Allah
Director: Petr Lom, 2007, Pakistan, 13min
Ihsan Khan was like many other immigrants. He left his home in Pakistan and went to America looking for work. He found it in Washington DC where he drove a cab for over twenty years. And then he won the lottery. $54 million to be precise. Suddenly, he could do anything he wanted to do. So he went back to his home town in Pakistan and ran for Mayor. And won. But that was just the beginning of his troubles. Money, politics, complaints and corruption… democracy is a messy business.
This is one of a series of films made for Why Democracy?, a documentary project using film to start a global conversation about democracy. For more information see www.whydemocracy.net
UK Première
Three Blind Men
Director: Kanu Behl, 2007, India, 7min
In Delhi there is a street permanently set aside for public demonstrations – Parliament Street. Every day, people converge on the street to protest about all manner of issues. But today on the street, something slightly unusual happens. Three blind men encounter an elephant. While the various different protests go on around them, the men try to decide what the elephant is. Is it a buffalo? A camel? Or maybe a wall?
This is one of a series of films made for Why Democracy?, a documentary project using film to start a global conversation about democracy. For more information see www.whydemocracy.net
TICKETS
£3.00 from The British Museum Box office
Tel: 0207 323 8181
www.britishmuseum.org
