Freedom Film Festival, Hyderabad 29-31 August; 3-7 pm Curated by Amudhan RP
Jointly organised by LAMAKAAN & MARUPAKKAM
Freedom means different things to different people. In a country like India, where caste, class, gender, and religion play a vital role in ensuring freedom for all of us to live with dignity and to think independently, civil society must revisit the word freedom periodically to keep it alive and effectual.
This mini film festival is an attempt to reflect upon the various voices raised in recent times to protect freedom from being endangered.
About Amudhan: Amudhan R.P.
Born and brought up in a rural and small town background, Amudhan developed his liking for cinema by watching popular Tamil films with his mother Pushpam, a farmer, while sitting on the sand-bed in thatched and temporary cinema halls called Touring Talkies.
Cinema has always been a collective activity / place for Amudhan, in which people from different backgrounds come together and imagine multiple worlds in a given short time.
After completing his Post Graduation in Development Communication from Madurai Kamraj University and a two year stint from Centre for Development of Instructional Technology (CENDIT), New Delhi, Amudhan set up MARUPAKKAM (The Other Side, in Tamil) a media action group in Madurai with his like minded friends to produce, screen and disseminate documentary films, in 1996.
Amudhan has made around 20 films on various social, political and economical themes since then. He also founded Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival and Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival has been conducting them for over 23 years and 10 years respectively.
He also curates various thematic film festivals across India. He has been part of many film festivals in India as a member of the Selection Committee and a Final Jury on various occasions.
He has conducted Documentary Workshops at prestigious educational institutions such as the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad), Jamia Millia Islamia (New Delhi), Central University of Hyderabad, LV Prasad Film Academy (Chennai), St Joseph’s College (Bengaluru), Loyola College (Chennai), Chetana Film Institute (Thrissur) and Sacred Heart College (Kochi).
Currently, Amudhan has been pursuing Mobile Phone Filmmaking since the COVID-19-induced lockdown, experimenting with the medium while expressing human anxieties and reaching out to nature.