Prisoners of Conscience

Co-presented with Early Monthly Segments
Guest programmed by Shai Heredia (Experimenta India) and introduced by our Executive Director Indu Vashist

SAVAC is pleased to co-present two films from mid-1970’s India guest programmed by Shai Heredia juxtaposing the political clampdown on freedom of expression with a government propaganda piece extolling the virtues of the state-imposed Emergency.

An important historical record of a traumatic period in India’s recent political history, Prisoners of Conscience by Anand Patwardhan focuses on the State of Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi from June 1975 to March 1977. During the Emergency the media was muzzled, over 100,000 people were arrested without charge and imprisoned without trial. But political prisoners existed before the Emergency and they continue to exist long after it has ended.

Programme
Prisoners of Conscience, Anand Patwardhan, India, 1978, 16mm, 45 minutes, b&w, sound
The New Wave, Chandrasekhar Nair, India, 1976, 35mm on video, 9 minutes, b&w, sound

“In 1975 a State of Emergency was declared in India. A new wave of discipline and order entered the nation’s life. The 20-point Programme aimed at removing corruption, nepotism and lawlessness on the university and college campuses so that peace and disciple may prevail, and examinations may be conducted in a free and fair atmosphere. The New Wave outlines the benefits that the state of Emergency brought to the student community.”
– Films Division India catalogue

Special thanks to Shai Heredia and Arsenal Distribution, Berlin.