Vikalp@Prithvi, an initiative by the Vikalp: Films for Freedom collective, has been screening documentaries and short films at Mumbai’s Prithvi Theatre on the last Friday of every month for over 10 years. It is now taking the screenings online to tide cinema lovers over until the end of the Covid-19 lockdown.
Every Friday afternoon, the collective will post a link to a documentary for a 48-hour period. Viewers can send in their questions and comments, and the filmmaker’s responses will be posted on Vikalp’s Facebook page in the coming week.
The event kicked off on May 1 with a screening of Manufacturing Consent, directed by Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick. The acclaimed documentary explores the political ideas advanced by American scholar Noam Chomsky in his 1988 book of the same name.
On May 8, Ali Kazimi’s Narmada: A Valley Rises will be screened. The documentary captures the Narmada Bachao Andolan’s non-violent protests against the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam in 1990. The film has a score by Mychael Danna (Monsoon Wedding, Life of Pi).
Kazimi will answer questions after the screening. They can be posed in the comments section on the Vikalp Facebook page or emailed to vikalpscreenings@gmail.com.