Compelling Documentaries At Commonwealth Film Festival

A number of compelling documentaries will be screened at this week's Third Commonwealth Film Festival in Manchester, UK, which runs from 30 April to 9 May 2004, featuring films produced by citizens of the Commonwealth.

The South African film, 'Roots Calling' makes its international debut at the Film Festival. This 2004 documentary by director Mark Kaplan chronicles the return to South Africa of musicians who had fled to the United Kingdom during the apartheid era. It presents the musical talent of these former South African exiles who had promoted township jazz and gospel music in London, where they gained fame. 'Roots Calling' stars singer Pinise Saul, guitarist Lucky Ranku and pianist Mervyn Africa.

Another documentary is 'Reinventing The Taliban?', a Pakistan-United States co-production written and directed by and starring Sharmeen Obaid. Produced in 2003, it profiles a young Pakistani woman who travels around north-west Pakistan. The film is viewed through the eyes of Sharmeen as she moves through the towns and villages in the provinces including places where musical performances have been banned and video cassettes and compact discs have been publicly burned. The documentary makers say it portrays the consequences of the rise of fundamentalism.

A selection of other documentaries offer different perspectives on life around the world. Three of them focus on India. 'Diverted to India' examines the effects of globalisation in India where call centres operate 24 hours a day to deal with calls from all over the world by American, British and other companies. This Australian film by Greg Stitt addresses the popularity of outsourcing of services to call centres in India to curb high labour costs in the West, and portrays how the operators are specially coached to match the accents favoured by the foreign firms they work for.

'Final Solution' looks at the Gujarat riots in western India in February 2002. This film by writer and director Rakesh Sharma, highlights the issue of communal relations in India. 

'A Hole in the Wall', directed by Rory O'Connor, focuses on the technology gap between the rich and poor. In this film, slum children in India have been given free access to computer technology and we are shown how they benefit from this.

'Dying To Be Free' depicts the struggle for change in Zimbabwe (which left the Commonwealth in December 2003), while writer and director Miles Roston puts the spotlight on the lives and dreams of five AIDS orphans in Kenya and Malawi in '14 Million Dreams'.

Canadian film-makers Julien Elie and Etienne Pagé take a look at the death penalty in Huntsville, Texas, USA in 'The Last Meal', which takes viewers through the process involved in the preparations for an execution.

CNIS - the Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 181   28 April 2004