TALES FROM THE MARGINS

Twelve women strip naked in front of Kangla fort in protest against the death in custody and alleged rape of a woman. Another woman has been on hunger strike for six years in the name of justice. Young men set themselves on fire and massive protest rallies are commonplace in the North-East Indian state of Manipur, but news of the struggles in this far-flung region barely ever reaches the rest of India, let alone the world. Tales from the Margins sheds light on the anger and turmoil of the people of Manipur.

Since the 1980s there has been insurgency and violence in Manipur - it is a complex social and political situation. The Indian government has attempted to crush the insurgency through military might, arrests, torture and extra-judiciary killings, shielded by undemocratic laws. Director Kavita Joshi has deliberately excluded the voices of the dominant forces in Manipur. Instead she has sought out the stories of a marginalised people and allowed them to express their plight. 

"When I heard of the troubles in Manipur in 2004, it was naturally very disquieting. However, what I found deeply troubling was not only the turmoil in Manipur but also how most of Indiasimply ignored all this. The mass protests, the anger and its repression hardly made it to the mainstream news media, except as token coverage, if that. It was as if Manipur did not exist." Kavita Joshi