If a picture is worth a thousand words, then is a movie worth a Million?
Fandry is Marathi poet Nagraj Manjule’s impressive debut feature that tells the story of Jabya, a Dalit boy, and his family’s struggle against daily prejudice in their Maharashtra village. Being labeled untouchable does not stop Jabya from dreaming beyond his caste: buying a pair of jeans and longing for the affections of Shalu, an upper caste classmate. Meanwhile, Jabya’s parents focus all their resources on paying for their daughter’s dowry, and worry their son’s continuing defiance is jeopardizing the family’s well-being.
What begins as a carefree look at a child’s desires and antics transforms into an insightful and damning look at caste discrimination. Refusing to reduce its Dalit characters to victims – most explicitly at the film’s explosive conclusion – FANDRY builds from a murmur to a defiant roar.
Manjule’s socially reflective film has received critical acclaim in India and screens for the first time in North America at IFFLA and at other venues. Dates, Venue and Time will be updated shortly, but for now I wanted to get this info out so that you guys can plan and look forward to seeing this movie.
Marathi movie with English Subtitles:- April 12, 07:00 PM – Indian Film Festival of LA – http://www.indianfilmfestival.org/fandry/
- April 15, 12 noon – Stanford University, Stanford, CA (Room 208, Encina Hall West, Encina Hall is on the corner of Serra and Galvez)
- April 16, 06:30 PM: Engineering Auditorium, San Jose State University, 7th and San Fernando, San Jose, CA
- April-18, 07:00 PM – Columbia University, New York – Venue: Jerome Greene, 105 (CU Law School)
- April 21, 05:00 PM – University of Pennsylvania – University Campus
- April 23– University of Houston – Venue, time will be informed soon
- April 25/26 – University of Texas, Austin- Venue, time will be informed soon
- April 27 – Community Screening at Dallas- Venue, time will be informed soon
- April 30 – Harvard/MIT, Boston, MA – Venue, time will be informed soon
- May 5-10– New York Film Festival- NYIFF 2014