PROJECT KASHMIR has been invited to participate in the prestigious DocuWeek theatrical showcase, which will take place in both Los Angeles and New York during the month of August. This showcase will qualify the film to be considered for an Academy Award. The International Documentary Association selects only 20 films each year and in 2007 from the 20 selected, five were nominated for an Oscar.
The violence in Kashmir is the highest it has been in almost 20 years. Please help us bring attention to the conflict in Kashmir by spreading the word to your friends, family and colleagues.
NY SCREENINGS
August 8th - August 14th, Village East Cinema
181-189 2nd Avenue (x East 12th St.)
Tickets can be purchased at www.villageeastcinema.com or the theater box office
NY Showtimes:
8/8 12:10 pm 5:30 pm
8/9 2:10 pm 7:30 pm
8/10 3:40 pm 9:10 pm
8/11 12:10 pm 5:30 pm
8/12 2:10 pm 7:30 pm
8/13 3:40 pm 9:10 pm
8/14 12:10 pm 5:30 pm
LOS ANGELES SCREENINGS
August 22nd - August 28th, ArcLight Hollywood
6360 W. Sunset Blvd (between Vine and Ivar, with DeLongpre to the south)
Tickets can be purchased at www.arclightcinemas.com or the theater box office.
LA Showtimes:
8/22 4:30 pm 9:30 pm
8/23 12:10 pm 7:30 pm
8/24 2:20 pm 9:15 pm
8/25 12:10 pm 4:30 pm
8/26 2:20 pm 6:30 pm
8/27 4:30 pm 9:30 pm
8/28 12:10 pm 7:30 pm
For more information please sign up for our mailing list at:
PROJECT KASHMIR MAILING LIST
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Two articles by Muzamil Jaleel
With violence surging in Kashmir at levels not seen since 1990, we are posting two recent articles written by Muzamil Jaleel that gives some context to the developing story.
WHILE DIN WAS ON, LOCAL MUSLIMS SHELTERED AND FED STRANDED YATRIS
Muzamil Jaleel
Posted online: Monday, June 30, 2008 at 0023 hrs IST
SRINAGAR, JUNE 29
The smell of tear gas on the streets of Srinagar, littered with glass shards, stones and smouldering tyres, are testimony to the pitched battles over the controversial transfer of forest land to the Amarnath shrine board. But as passions ran high, stoked mostly by politicians, the local Muslim population worked quietly, organising free langars for the hundreds of pilgrims stranded because of the shutdown — a gesture which only reinforces the Hindu-Muslim bonhomie that has symbolised the Amarnath Yatra ever since the cave shrine was discovered in 1860 by a Muslim shepherd.
“How could our children eat and sleep at home while children of these stranded Yatris would stay hungry and spend the night under the open sky?” asked Mohammad Abdullah of Tangbagh. He said the neighbourhood committee of Tangbagh, Dalgate set up a community kitchen to feed more than 3,000 stranded Yatris. “After the dinner, we found there were many who had no place to stay during the night. We then requested each household to accommodate three to four Yatris,” Abdullah said.
Noor Mohammad, another member of the neighbourhood committee, delinked the Yatra from the controversial land transfer. “We too are protesting against this illegal land transfer to the shrine board. But the anger and protests have nothing to do with the Amarnath Yatra or the pilgrims,” he said. “At the end of the day, we are all human beings. Why do you forget that Kashmiri Muslims have been hosting the Yatris for more than a hundred years now?”
Yatri Dharam Pal from Delhi said: “The amity here amazes us. This mess was created by those who rule and not the people.”
HISTORY OF THE CHASM
By Muzamil Jaleel
THE INDIAN EXPRESS
Posted online: Sunday, August 10, 2008 at 1806 hrs IST
The seeds of the current turmoil can be traced to a treaty signed on March 16, 1846, between the British Government and Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu. Under the treaty, the British sold Kashmir to the Maharaja for seven million Nanak Shahi (the then currency of Punjab). With this began the Dogra rule in Kashmir, which came to an end in 1948 in the wake of India’s Independence. This was followed by a long struggle in the Valley against the Maharaja in which both the Kashmiri Muslims and the Pandits fought shoulder to shoulder.
The Kashmiri struggle against the last Dogra ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, started in the thirties and in 1947, it culminated in the transfer of political power from the Dogras to the Muslim majority of the state.
Though the Kashmiri movement against Maharaja Hari Singh wasn’t essentially communal in nature, the fact that it was a predominantly Muslim uprising against a Hindu ruler from Jammu gave it a religious dimension. And the loss of political power in the post-1947 democratic dispensation headed by Shiekh Abdullah only widened the divide. The Jammu Dogras harboured a deep sense of political marginalisation, which resulted in the growth of religious outfits like the Praja Parishad in 1947.
The Parishad spearheaded the opposition to Kashmiri dominance in 1949. It declared its opposition to the separate constitution and national flag for the state as also Article 370, which grants the state a special status and forbids the owning of land by non-state subjects. The Parishad was also stridently opposed to Sheikh Abdullah’s National Conference, which, it thought, only represented the aspirations of Kashmiri Muslims. Sheikh was accused of “Muslimising” the state through his Kashmir-centric policies.
In fact, the Parishad was at the centre of a massive uprising in Jammu in the fifties when a National Conference flag was hoisted at a local college.
It is not that there have been no efforts to redress regional grievances. In fact, the government set up the Ganjendragadkar and Sikri Commission to inquire into complaints of regional discrimination in 1967 and 1979 respectively. One result of the Ganjendragadkar Commission was the division of J&K University into separate Kashmir and Jammu universities.
Though Kashmir has also had its share of religious parties, most prominent of them being the Jamaat-i-Islami, they usually define their politics more by a strident anti-India agenda rather than an anti-Jammu sentiment.
-Muzamil Jaleel
WHILE DIN WAS ON, LOCAL MUSLIMS SHELTERED AND FED STRANDED YATRIS
Muzamil Jaleel
Posted online: Monday, June 30, 2008 at 0023 hrs IST
SRINAGAR, JUNE 29
The smell of tear gas on the streets of Srinagar, littered with glass shards, stones and smouldering tyres, are testimony to the pitched battles over the controversial transfer of forest land to the Amarnath shrine board. But as passions ran high, stoked mostly by politicians, the local Muslim population worked quietly, organising free langars for the hundreds of pilgrims stranded because of the shutdown — a gesture which only reinforces the Hindu-Muslim bonhomie that has symbolised the Amarnath Yatra ever since the cave shrine was discovered in 1860 by a Muslim shepherd.
“How could our children eat and sleep at home while children of these stranded Yatris would stay hungry and spend the night under the open sky?” asked Mohammad Abdullah of Tangbagh. He said the neighbourhood committee of Tangbagh, Dalgate set up a community kitchen to feed more than 3,000 stranded Yatris. “After the dinner, we found there were many who had no place to stay during the night. We then requested each household to accommodate three to four Yatris,” Abdullah said.
Noor Mohammad, another member of the neighbourhood committee, delinked the Yatra from the controversial land transfer. “We too are protesting against this illegal land transfer to the shrine board. But the anger and protests have nothing to do with the Amarnath Yatra or the pilgrims,” he said. “At the end of the day, we are all human beings. Why do you forget that Kashmiri Muslims have been hosting the Yatris for more than a hundred years now?”
Yatri Dharam Pal from Delhi said: “The amity here amazes us. This mess was created by those who rule and not the people.”
HISTORY OF THE CHASM
By Muzamil Jaleel
THE INDIAN EXPRESS
Posted online: Sunday, August 10, 2008 at 1806 hrs IST
The seeds of the current turmoil can be traced to a treaty signed on March 16, 1846, between the British Government and Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu. Under the treaty, the British sold Kashmir to the Maharaja for seven million Nanak Shahi (the then currency of Punjab). With this began the Dogra rule in Kashmir, which came to an end in 1948 in the wake of India’s Independence. This was followed by a long struggle in the Valley against the Maharaja in which both the Kashmiri Muslims and the Pandits fought shoulder to shoulder.
The Kashmiri struggle against the last Dogra ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, started in the thirties and in 1947, it culminated in the transfer of political power from the Dogras to the Muslim majority of the state.
Though the Kashmiri movement against Maharaja Hari Singh wasn’t essentially communal in nature, the fact that it was a predominantly Muslim uprising against a Hindu ruler from Jammu gave it a religious dimension. And the loss of political power in the post-1947 democratic dispensation headed by Shiekh Abdullah only widened the divide. The Jammu Dogras harboured a deep sense of political marginalisation, which resulted in the growth of religious outfits like the Praja Parishad in 1947.
The Parishad spearheaded the opposition to Kashmiri dominance in 1949. It declared its opposition to the separate constitution and national flag for the state as also Article 370, which grants the state a special status and forbids the owning of land by non-state subjects. The Parishad was also stridently opposed to Sheikh Abdullah’s National Conference, which, it thought, only represented the aspirations of Kashmiri Muslims. Sheikh was accused of “Muslimising” the state through his Kashmir-centric policies.
In fact, the Parishad was at the centre of a massive uprising in Jammu in the fifties when a National Conference flag was hoisted at a local college.
It is not that there have been no efforts to redress regional grievances. In fact, the government set up the Ganjendragadkar and Sikri Commission to inquire into complaints of regional discrimination in 1967 and 1979 respectively. One result of the Ganjendragadkar Commission was the division of J&K University into separate Kashmir and Jammu universities.
Though Kashmir has also had its share of religious parties, most prominent of them being the Jamaat-i-Islami, they usually define their politics more by a strident anti-India agenda rather than an anti-Jammu sentiment.
-Muzamil Jaleel
Sunday, June 8, 2008
PROJECT KASHMIR WORLD PREMIERE
THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
PROJECT KASHMIR
Screening info:
Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
Sat., June 21st, 6:30 p.m. Discussion w/ filmmakers and reception to follow
Sun., June 22nd, 8:30 p.m. Discussion w/ filmmakers to follow
Mon., June 23rd, 4:00 p.m.
Visit the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival official website to purchase tickets
To receive occasional updates on special film events,
sign up for our e-mailing list
From directors Senain Kheshgi and Geeta V. Patel comes PROJECT KASHMIR--a feature documentary in which the directors, two American friends from opposite sides of the divide, investigate the war in Kashmir and find their friendship tested over deeply rooted political, cultural and religious biases they never had to face in the U.S. PROJECT KASHMIR explores war between countries and war within oneself by delving into the fraught lives of young people caught in the social/political conflict of one of the most beautiful, and most deadly, places on earth--Kashmir.
Beautifully lensed by Academy Award® winner, Ross Kauffman, the film captures the stunning beauty of Kashmir, while expertly interweaving deeply moving personal stories of Kashmiris with those of the two American women, who strive to reconcile their ethnic and religious heritage with the violence that haunts their homeland.
Presented in association with:
Breakthrough
Tribeca All Access
Tribeca Film Festival
PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
PROJECT KASHMIR
Screening info:
Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
Sat., June 21st, 6:30 p.m. Discussion w/ filmmakers and reception to follow
Sun., June 22nd, 8:30 p.m. Discussion w/ filmmakers to follow
Mon., June 23rd, 4:00 p.m.
Visit the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival official website to purchase tickets
To receive occasional updates on special film events,
sign up for our e-mailing list
From directors Senain Kheshgi and Geeta V. Patel comes PROJECT KASHMIR--a feature documentary in which the directors, two American friends from opposite sides of the divide, investigate the war in Kashmir and find their friendship tested over deeply rooted political, cultural and religious biases they never had to face in the U.S. PROJECT KASHMIR explores war between countries and war within oneself by delving into the fraught lives of young people caught in the social/political conflict of one of the most beautiful, and most deadly, places on earth--Kashmir.
Beautifully lensed by Academy Award® winner, Ross Kauffman, the film captures the stunning beauty of Kashmir, while expertly interweaving deeply moving personal stories of Kashmiris with those of the two American women, who strive to reconcile their ethnic and religious heritage with the violence that haunts their homeland.
Presented in association with:
Breakthrough
Tribeca All Access
Tribeca Film Festival
Friday, June 6, 2008
Project Kashmir
AUGUST 2007
Senain and Geeta have been selected as delegates to this year’s Asia Society Asia 21 Young Leader’s Summit taking place in Singapore from October 5-7, 2007. The Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative aims to help prepare tomorrow’s leaders for the challenges and responsibilities of global citizenship by bringing together fellows from across world to generate creative, shared approaches to leadership and problem solving. Through Asia 21, the region’s leaders work together to develop collaborative approaches to the region’s shared challenges, to build networks of trust across geographic boundaries, and to educate each other in the highest ideals of values-based leadership.
JUNE 2007
The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival collaborates for the first time with the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program to showcase work-in-progress scenes from PROJECT KASHMIR at the 18th Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at Lincoln Center in New York City. The screening was followed by a discussion with Senain and Geeta exploring the conflict in Kashmir as well as the question of faith and the Muslim experience today.
MAY 2007
The Tribeca Film Festival and ITVS present an outreach workshop for TRIBECA ALL ACCESS participants. The workshop highlighted Project Kashmir's innovative outreach plan film and the film's audience engagement strategies.
JANUARY 2007
Senain and Geeta are interviewed on THE RIZ KHAN SHOW, Broadcast live, on Al-Jazeera English, the program allowed viewers from around the world to question Senain and Geeta directly via phone, email, SMS, video-mail and fax about the film and the conflict in Kashmir.
AUGUST 2006
Senain and Geeta selected to be Sundance Fellows and attended the Sundance Institute Composers Lab and Producers Conference at the Sundance Resort in Utah.
JUNE 2006
Project Kashmir was accepted by the Sundance Institute as one of four projects in the prestigious 2006 Documentary Film Editing and Story Laboratory. Senain and Geeta attended the Lab and worked with Academy and Sundance Award Winning directors and editors.
APRIL 2006
Khurram Parvez, one of the young people featured in the film, was presented with the prestigious Reebok Human Rights Award for his contribution to human rights causes.
Senain and Geeta have been selected as delegates to this year’s Asia Society Asia 21 Young Leader’s Summit taking place in Singapore from October 5-7, 2007. The Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative aims to help prepare tomorrow’s leaders for the challenges and responsibilities of global citizenship by bringing together fellows from across world to generate creative, shared approaches to leadership and problem solving. Through Asia 21, the region’s leaders work together to develop collaborative approaches to the region’s shared challenges, to build networks of trust across geographic boundaries, and to educate each other in the highest ideals of values-based leadership.
JUNE 2007
The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival collaborates for the first time with the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program to showcase work-in-progress scenes from PROJECT KASHMIR at the 18th Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at Lincoln Center in New York City. The screening was followed by a discussion with Senain and Geeta exploring the conflict in Kashmir as well as the question of faith and the Muslim experience today.
MAY 2007
The Tribeca Film Festival and ITVS present an outreach workshop for TRIBECA ALL ACCESS participants. The workshop highlighted Project Kashmir's innovative outreach plan film and the film's audience engagement strategies.
JANUARY 2007
Senain and Geeta are interviewed on THE RIZ KHAN SHOW, Broadcast live, on Al-Jazeera English, the program allowed viewers from around the world to question Senain and Geeta directly via phone, email, SMS, video-mail and fax about the film and the conflict in Kashmir.
AUGUST 2006
Senain and Geeta selected to be Sundance Fellows and attended the Sundance Institute Composers Lab and Producers Conference at the Sundance Resort in Utah.
JUNE 2006
Project Kashmir was accepted by the Sundance Institute as one of four projects in the prestigious 2006 Documentary Film Editing and Story Laboratory. Senain and Geeta attended the Lab and worked with Academy and Sundance Award Winning directors and editors.
APRIL 2006
Khurram Parvez, one of the young people featured in the film, was presented with the prestigious Reebok Human Rights Award for his contribution to human rights causes.
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