Rural media group Khabar Lahariya has stated the makers of the Oscar-nominated documentary Writing with Fire have inaccurately represented it as one with a “focus of reporting on one party”. In response, the filmmakers, Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, launched a press release standing by the portrayal.
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“Khabar Lahariya’s assertion is an acknowledgment of the fractured and complicated instances we’re in. While their assertion is deeply disappointing to us, we stay dedicated supporters of their mission, work and onward journey,” they stated.
Writing with Fire is competing within the Documentary Feature class on the Oscars.
Khabar Lahariya’s assertion, which comes every week forward of the 94th Academy Awards, says the movie “eclipses” their work of over 20 years and captures solely part of their story — “and part stories have a way of distorting the whole sometimes”.
The women-led media collective acknowledged the movie as “powerful and moving”. But it added that the documentary’s presentation of it “as an organization with a particular and consuming focus of reporting on one party and the mobilization around this, is inaccurate”, and that theirs “has not just been the easy-to-digest, heartwarming story of the small figure talking back to the big powers in a time of political change”.
The filmmakers wrote: “Khabar Lahariya has a rich legacy as a grassroots media organisation. Yet a film must take a focus to tell a story of one aspect or another of the whole picture. We respect that this may not be the film that they would have made about themselves but we stand by this portrayal of Khabar Lahariya, which focuses on the range of the important work that they do — and their hopes, fears, vulnerabilities and dreams.… Our film speaks to their power and agency both as women and as journalists.”
Khabar Lahariya stated: “In 20 years, we have reported on (and befriended) many parties in Uttar Pradesh that have said they will stand for the rights of the poor, the marginalised, and we have shown them all the mirror when they have not done what they said…”
“We haven’t, because the movie would have one imagine, been capable of carry our caste identities on our sleeves, with bravado and humour. We have needed to be discreet, usually fearful.”
The assertion stated the group watched the movie solely just lately.
The filmmakers, nonetheless, wrote: “We spent five years making the film, with much care and in collaboration with the team at Khabar Lahariya, including filming closely with them on the ground for four years, from 2016-19… It was important to us to share the film with Khabar Lahariya before any other audience. In January 2021, we traveled from Delhi to Banda in Uttar Pradesh to set up a screening in person with the key contributors before the world premiere of the film at the Sundance Film Festival. The protagonists of the film expressed joy and support for the way the film represents their work and their lives. Soon after seeing the film, Khabar Lahariya’s Bureau Chief joined the filmmakers for a post-screening conversation at Sundance in January 2021. In the 14 months since then, the Khabar Lahariya team has joined us in many virtual panels and post screening conversations around the film and their work. The film has created an opportunity for them to talk about the legacy of Khabar Lahariya’s work with the international press. In November 2021, the Bureau Chief joined us in person to present the film with a live audience at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).” Khabar Lahariya’s then bureau chief Meera Devi, one of many movie’s protagonists, posted about her time in Amsterdam on Instagram.
Last yr, after the movie picked up two awards on the Sundance Film Festival, Khabar Lahariya editor Kavita Bundelkhandi had advised The Indian Express in an e-mail: “We’re very thrilled for Writing with Fire and the filmmakers Rintu and Sushmit, for premiering their labor of love — the story of Khabar Lahariya narrated from their unique perspective…which has garnered global praise and attention, and won such wonderfully exciting awards. All very well-deserved, and we wish them many more accolades in the future. For WWF and more!”
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
