In Focus invite you to
a discussion led by Shabana Azmi (actor, social activist and ex-MP) and Javed Akhtar (writer and social activist) followed by a screening of the award winning film on Gujarat
FINAL SOLUTION (Dir. Rakesh Sharma)
and Q&A with the director
Wednesday 31st March
at 1.30 pm
Venue: Pearson Lecture Theatre, University College London (on your left as you enter the main gates of University College London on Gower Street)
All are Welcome
About the film
Final Solution is a study of the politics of hate. Set in Gujarat during the period Feb/March 2002 - July 2003, the film examines the consequences of Hindu-Moslem polarization in the state.
Part 1 :Pride and Genocidedeals with the genocidal violence against Moslems and its immediate aftermath. It probes the patterns of pre-planned violence by right-wing Hindu cadres which many claim was state-supported, if not state-sponsored.
Part 2 : The Terror Trail reconstructs through eyewitness accounts the attack onGulbarg(Ahmedabad) and acts of barbaric violence against Moslem women atEral andDelol/Kalol(Panchmahals) even as Chief Minister Modi traverses the state on his Gaurav Yatra.
Part 3 : The Hate Mandate documents the poll campaign during the Assembly elections in Gujarat in late 2002. It records in detail the exploitation of the Godhra incident ( in which 58 Hindus were burnt alive) by the right-wing propaganda machinery for electoral gains.
Part 4 :Hope and Despair studies the situation after the storm and its impact on Hindus and Moslems - ghettoisation, the call for economic boycott of Moslems and continuing acts of violence more than a year after the carnage.
At the recently-concluded 54th Berlin International film festival - Final Solution - a feature-length documentary film by Rakesh Sharma won two awards. The first award - theWolfgang Staudte award - is presented in memory of the noted German film director Wolfgang Staudte ( 1906-1984). Final Solution is the first Indian film to win this award which was instituted in 1990 at the Berlin film festival. It is also the first time that the award has gone to a documentary film. Said the jury in its citation :An epic documentary focussing on a culture of hatred and indifference. The directness, clarity and accuracy of the film enables the viewer to both reflect on the universality of the subject matter and relate this to his or her own human attitudes. The film-maker has chosen a documentary form that completely shuns the use of melodramatic effects...
The second award for the film is the Special Jury Award by the NETPAC and the award went to Final Solution 'for its clarification of issues that spawned hate and violence between Hindus and Moslems in Gujarat, its analysis of propoganda mechanisms for political purposes, and its measured voice to seek a final solution to the conflict.'
Rakesh Sharma began his film/TV career in 1986 as an assistant director onShyam Benegal'sDiscovery of India. His last filmAftershocks : The Rough Guide to Democracy won the Best documentary film award at Fribourg, Big Mini-DV and at Big Muddy and won 7 other awards {including theRobert Flaherty prize}at various festivals in USA and Europe during 2002-03. It has been screened at over 90 international film festivals.
For further enquiries please contact Dr. Mukulika Banerjee, Department of Anthropology University College London London WC1E 6BT Ph:+44-20-84504954