An uncertain wait for filmmakers selected in IDSFFK after Union I&B Ministry ‘ban’

Documentary filmmakers Afiya Khalid and Rizwan Rahman have become accustomed to their film ‘Sanitised Republic: Cast(e) & Contracts’ being prevented from screening at festivals following intervention by the Union government. One of the eight documentaries yet to be given censor exemption by the Union Information & Broadcasting Ministry at the 18th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Keralam (IDSFFK), this is the third consecutive festival where its screening was cancelled.

“The Ministry objected to a short audio clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing the COVID-19 lockdown and wanted it removed. We cut the part which they objected to, when they further asked for the removal of a news screenshot on the PM. Even after removing that, they have not cleared the film,” Ms. Khalid tells The Hindu .