OP Jindal University

Sonipat (Haryana) [India], March 27: As part of the ongoing celebrations marking fifteen years of O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU), its media school, Jindal School of Journalism and Communication (JSJC), hosted first-of-its-kind, campus-based international documentary film festival from March 21, 2025 to March 23, 2025.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. (Dr.) C. Rajkumar, inaugurated the festival, 'Today is an era when we can safely say that good films can be made purely on the power of an idea.' In his welcome remarks the Registrar, Prof. Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik said that 'This festival is not just a celebration of cinema, it is also a celebration of storytelling, human resilience and truth'

But why the 'documentary'? According to JSJC Dean Prof. Kishalay Bhattacharjee, 'Recently, it is the documentary that has brought international recognition to Indian cinema. Documentarians aren't simply journalists; they are exploring the truth about the human condition.' JSJC had announced, at the inception of its B.A. (Hons) Film and New Media Programme in 2022, that it would be home to one of the finest documentary film festivals in the world. The three days of the Kos Minar International Documentary Film Festival fulfilled that promise, as students, faculty, and audiences from outside JGU gathered to watch and discuss a series of compelling, poignant, and contemplative documentary films from India and the world.

Documentaries have always remained at the cusp of experimenting with cinema's limits, displaying a never dissipating human desire to bring stories, facts and truths to the foreground. This festival, named after the 'Kos Minar'--a medieval distance marker built along the Grand Trunk Road, one of Asia's longest and oldest major roads, connecting several medieval empires--showcased new experiments with the documentary film form, by young and emerging filmmakers. Traditionally, Kos Minars were built for the comfort of travellers and also used as stations for royal couriers carrying messages and transferring royal treasury; JGU overlooks one such Kos Minar, situating the university at the confluence of global communication. In keeping with this spirit, the Kos Minar International Documentary Film Festival brought together some of the finest contemporary documentary films from near and afar, and also facilitated stimulating interactions between filmmakers, film lovers, and students.

On March 21, the festival opened by commemorating legendary filmmaker, Kumar Shahani, who passed away on February 24, 2024. One of Shahani's last public appearances was at the commencement of JSJC's B.A. (Hons) Film and New Media Programme. In honor of Shahani, the keynote address, Remembering Kumar, was delivered by noted film scholar, Ashish Rajadhyaksha. Rajadhyaksha spoke about the dazzling range of Shahani's many interests, which included the global history of cotton, D.D. Kosambi's reading of the Mahabharata, Buddhist iconography, Indian classical music, and the Bhakti tradition. The talk illustrated Shahani's experiments with form, performance, and musical traditions in his various films, thereby introducing the filmmaker to a newer generation of audience.

The opening film on Day 1 was Payal Kapadia's A Night of Knowing Nothing--an arresting portrait of the youth of India, their anxieties, desires, and dreams of justice--which had been awarded the Best Documentary Film at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. This was followed by the screening of Prachee Bajania's Umbro--a short and intimate film on a circle of Gujarati women, especially mothers, stealing time from their daily routines for friendships and leisure. Next was Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta's Flickering Lights, a tale of patience and hope, wherein a remote village near the Indo-Burmese border waits for 7 years, for electricity.

Day 2 opened with two recent Sundance film festival winners: Sarvnik Kaur's Against the Tide and Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing's Midwives. Both films highlighted marginalised communities (fishermen from Mumbai and midwives from Myanmar, respectively) grappling with larger global forces transforming their traditional means of livelihood. Through stories of personal friendships and disagreements embedded within troubled waters and war-torn landscapes, these films documented the spirit of human resilience and companionship. These films were presented by Docedge Kolkata - Asian Forum for Documentary, which is currently one of the leading platforms supporting and financing independent documentary filmmaking in Asia.

Later, Sreemoyee Singh's And, Towards Happy Alleys, took us on a personal, musical journey through the streets of Iran. During the Q&A session, Sreemoyee Singh shared her experiences as a young research scholar and filmmaker--how her fascination with Iranian cinema, poetry, and music inspired her to learn Persian and set out on a journey to Iran, to meet the nation's finest filmmakers and document the stories of Iranian women and their quest to live with dignity, often using music to bond with strangers.

Day 3 began with Haobam Paban Kumar's Phum Shang, and Raja Shabir Khan's Shepherds of Paradise--two compelling films on marginalised communities from Kashmir and Manipur, their incredible relationship to land and water, even as forces of nature and changing laws push them to the brink of extinction. Apart from the Q & A session with both filmmakers, students were presented with a special opportunity to interact with them in a separate technical session.

The festival also included three short experimental films by Berlin-based Palestinian filmmaker, Basma Al Sharif, and a selection of films around climate change and ethics, presented by Alt Eff (All Living Things Environmental Film Festival). Event partner and global streaming platform MUBI also conducted special film quizzes for students, with their exclusive merchandise as prizes.

The Kos Minar International Documentary Film Festival fittingly became a testament to not just the power of independent filmmaking in bringing stories, known or unknown, to newer audiences, but also to the interdisciplinary spirit embodied by the Jindal School of Journalism and Communication. The three days of the festival became a window to the world--travelling across nations, geographies, and ecologies, where one encountered people, places, habits and habitats, became involved in their struggles to live with dignity and justice, participated in their trials and tribulations, laughed along in their moments of joy, and most importantly, witnessed their courage to stand up for the truth.

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