I, POPPY
France, India 2025 – Director: Vivek Chaudhary – Original language: Hindi – Subtitles: English – Length: 82 min.
Expensive licenses, bribes, and low pay for backbreaking harvest work. Mangilal Meghwal, a teacher and the son of a farming family from Rajasthan, has had enough. He has been cultivating poppies for medical morphine for decades, but the authorities’ arbitrary behavior is getting worse. The film captures the emergence of a protest movement against a corrupt system with brilliant insight. A.M.H.
Biography
Vivek Chaudhary is a self-taught director, producer and writer whose work has been screened at leading festivals worldwide. His first feature I, POPPY won Best International Feature Documentary at Hot Docs 2025.
Filmography
ALL ACCESS - THE CONTENDERS, IN 2019, miniseries
GOONGA PEHELWAN, IN 2014, 46 min
Nominated for the DOK.horizonte Competition – Cinema of Urgency
The films nominated for this award tell stories from the Global South. They are supported by ENGAGEMENT GLOBAL with funds from the BMZ, the award is endowed with 5,000 euros. Donor is the Petra-Kelly-Stiftung.
Sponsored by
With funding by
Production: Unek Films & La Fabrica Nocturna. Producer: Vivek Chaudhary & Xavier Rocher. Co-Producers: Producer | Xavier Rocher - La Fabrica Nocturna Cinéma. International Sales: Impronta Films.
