Thursday, April 10, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
MIFF 2008
MIFF 2008: India tops the list of woman directors
Mumbai, February 07, 2008,Hindustantimes
Aneisha Sharma from Guwahati had started her career as child artiste in Assamese films in 1982 and has produced and directed 30 documentaries so far.
One of them, "Freedom at the Edge" was adjudged as the Special Best Documentary at the Boston International Film Festival in 2007. She has entered this documentary in the national documentary category at the MIFF 2008.
It is about a tribal youth from Assam, Machang Lalung, who was sentenced to prison for an unknown offence in 1951.
He was later shifted to the Tezpur Mental Hospital, where he remained confined for 54 years without trial until the Indian Human Rights Commission rescued him. The documentary had also received the Kerala State Award for Best Documentary in 2007.
Please visit:-http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=3848c61c-c7ab-483f-986f-ec2e66129574&MatchID1=4649&TeamID1=1&TeamID2=6&MatchType1=2&SeriesID1=1170&MatchID2=4665&TeamID3=10&TeamID4=3&MatchType2=1&SeriesID2=1174&PrimaryID=4649&Headline=MIFF+2008%3a+India+tops+the+list+of+woman+directors
Mumbai, February 07, 2008,Hindustantimes
Aneisha Sharma from Guwahati had started her career as child artiste in Assamese films in 1982 and has produced and directed 30 documentaries so far.
One of them, "Freedom at the Edge" was adjudged as the Special Best Documentary at the Boston International Film Festival in 2007. She has entered this documentary in the national documentary category at the MIFF 2008.
It is about a tribal youth from Assam, Machang Lalung, who was sentenced to prison for an unknown offence in 1951.
He was later shifted to the Tezpur Mental Hospital, where he remained confined for 54 years without trial until the Indian Human Rights Commission rescued him. The documentary had also received the Kerala State Award for Best Documentary in 2007.
Please visit:-http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=3848c61c-c7ab-483f-986f-ec2e66129574&MatchID1=4649&TeamID1=1&TeamID2=6&MatchType1=2&SeriesID1=1170&MatchID2=4665&TeamID3=10&TeamID4=3&MatchType2=1&SeriesID2=1174&PrimaryID=4649&Headline=MIFF+2008%3a+India+tops+the+list+of+woman+directors
Friday, February 15, 2008
Freedom film
Freedom film
Guwahati-based feature and documentary filmmaker Aneisha Sharma’s short film, Freedom at the Edge, is bagging honours in the country and abroad. The short film was adjudged the best film at the Chennai International Short Film Festival, among 90 others selected from 15 countries.
It depicts the life of Machal Lalung, the man who spent 54 years in the Tezpur mental asylum before he was reunited with his family after the intervention of the National Human Rights organisation.
After winning rave reviews at the Boston Film Festival, Freedom at the Edge also won accolades at the recently concluded Mumbai Film Festival.
The Singapore International Film Festival, to be held in April, is next. “I am happy that the film has been well received wherever it was screened, because of its touching theme,” said Sharma.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080214/jsp/northeast/story_8898079.jsp
Guwahati-based feature and documentary filmmaker Aneisha Sharma’s short film, Freedom at the Edge, is bagging honours in the country and abroad. The short film was adjudged the best film at the Chennai International Short Film Festival, among 90 others selected from 15 countries.
It depicts the life of Machal Lalung, the man who spent 54 years in the Tezpur mental asylum before he was reunited with his family after the intervention of the National Human Rights organisation.
After winning rave reviews at the Boston Film Festival, Freedom at the Edge also won accolades at the recently concluded Mumbai Film Festival.
The Singapore International Film Festival, to be held in April, is next. “I am happy that the film has been well received wherever it was screened, because of its touching theme,” said Sharma.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080214/jsp/northeast/story_8898079.jsp
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Machang, who spent 54 years in jail without trial, dies
Machang Lalung (second right) seen with Assamese cine artist Indra Bania, and Aneisha Sharma, director of the short film “Freedom At The Edge,” during its first screening in Guwahati in this file photo.
Special Correspondent Guwahati: Machang Lalung, who spent 54 years in prison without trial, died at his ancestral residence at Silchang in Morigaon district on Tuesday night following a brief illness. He was 79.
He was released in July 2005 on the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) from the LGB Regional Institute of Mental Health at Tezpur.
It was NHRC Special Rapporteur Chaman Lal who brought the shocking neglect of five undertrial prisoners, including Machang, at the hospital to the notice of commission.
NHRC found that Machang, who was only 23 when he was arrested in 1951 from his native village, was never produced in a court though he was declared fit to stand trial after August 9, 1967. He remained an undertrial prisoner in a case under Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code. The NHRC ordered the Assam government to release him immediately.
Later the Supreme Court took a suo motu case and ordered the State government to pay Machang a compensation of Rs.3 lakh and Rs.1,000 every month for life.
Medical and Health Officer, Nellie State Dispensary, Jayanta Kumar Nath told The Hindu that Machang died of “geriatric ailment.”
The funeral was attended, among others, by Guwahati-based filmmaker Aneisha Sharma whose 27-minute film “Freedom at the edge” on Machang’s confinement bagged an award at the Boston International Film Festival this year.
Machang saw the film when it was screened in Guwahati on June 29 this year. He was seated in the front row next to the then Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (Metropolitan), H.K. Sarma, who ordered his release on a token personal bond of Re. 1.
He was released in July 2005 on the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) from the LGB Regional Institute of Mental Health at Tezpur.
It was NHRC Special Rapporteur Chaman Lal who brought the shocking neglect of five undertrial prisoners, including Machang, at the hospital to the notice of commission.
NHRC found that Machang, who was only 23 when he was arrested in 1951 from his native village, was never produced in a court though he was declared fit to stand trial after August 9, 1967. He remained an undertrial prisoner in a case under Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code. The NHRC ordered the Assam government to release him immediately.
Later the Supreme Court took a suo motu case and ordered the State government to pay Machang a compensation of Rs.3 lakh and Rs.1,000 every month for life.
Medical and Health Officer, Nellie State Dispensary, Jayanta Kumar Nath told The Hindu that Machang died of “geriatric ailment.”
The funeral was attended, among others, by Guwahati-based filmmaker Aneisha Sharma whose 27-minute film “Freedom at the edge” on Machang’s confinement bagged an award at the Boston International Film Festival this year.
Machang saw the film when it was screened in Guwahati on June 29 this year. He was seated in the front row next to the then Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (Metropolitan), H.K. Sarma, who ordered his release on a token personal bond of Re. 1.
Friday, December 28, 2007
He lost 54 years of life in jail- and dies two years after his release
Samudra Gupta Kashyap
Posted online: Thursday, December 27, 2007
Silchang (Assam), December 26: For 54 years, he remained behind bars despite no specific charges, forgotten by the law and everyone else, as reported first by The Indian Express. Till he was released on bail in July 2005, following the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). But his freedom was short-lived, as Machang Lalung, 80, died last night.
“Lalung was suffering from various old-age ailments for the past few months. Last week, he was taken to Guwahati Medical College Hospital after he suffered a fracture in his right leg following a fall in his house,” said Dr Jayanta Kumar Nath, medical officer at the Nellie State Dispensary. Lalung died at his ancestral house in Silchang at around 10:30 pm.
Lalung, a tribal from Silchang in Morigaon district of central Assam, was 23 when he went missing. His family thought he had been whisked away by some evil spirit. The only available record in Guwahati Jail says he was booked under Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code. The section pertains to a non-bailable offence for “voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means”. If found guilty, the maximum penalty under this provision is 10 years in prison.
But Lalung was never produced before a magistrate, nor did his case come up for any kind of hearing in the five-and-a-half decades that he remained in custody as an undertrial prisoner. Within weeks of his detention, he was sent to the Gopinath Bardoloi Mental Hospital at Tezpur. And despite repeated letters from the hospital authorities saying that Lalung had recovered and was fit to be taken back, the jail authorities did not respond.
It was only in July 2005 that he was finally released, on a bail for Re 1. The Indian Express report on the case prompted a PIL, following which the Supreme Court directed the Assam government to pay Lalung an interim compensation of Rs 3 lakh apart from a monthly subsistence allowance of Rs 1000. The state government was also directed to arrange regular medical check-up and free treatment for him.
“When we first heard that our granduncle was still alive, we simply could not believe it. When we were children, our grandmother used to tell us about her brother who went missing long ago,” said Sombar Pator, who lit the funeral pyre at the village cremation ground this afternoon.
“It was a strange life that our system forced upon this innocent man,” remarked Aneisha Sharma, whose 23-minute film Freedom at the Edge on Lalung earned accolades at the prestigious Boston International Film Festival earlier this year.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/254745.html
Posted online: Thursday, December 27, 2007
Silchang (Assam), December 26: For 54 years, he remained behind bars despite no specific charges, forgotten by the law and everyone else, as reported first by The Indian Express. Till he was released on bail in July 2005, following the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). But his freedom was short-lived, as Machang Lalung, 80, died last night.
“Lalung was suffering from various old-age ailments for the past few months. Last week, he was taken to Guwahati Medical College Hospital after he suffered a fracture in his right leg following a fall in his house,” said Dr Jayanta Kumar Nath, medical officer at the Nellie State Dispensary. Lalung died at his ancestral house in Silchang at around 10:30 pm.
Lalung, a tribal from Silchang in Morigaon district of central Assam, was 23 when he went missing. His family thought he had been whisked away by some evil spirit. The only available record in Guwahati Jail says he was booked under Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code. The section pertains to a non-bailable offence for “voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means”. If found guilty, the maximum penalty under this provision is 10 years in prison.
But Lalung was never produced before a magistrate, nor did his case come up for any kind of hearing in the five-and-a-half decades that he remained in custody as an undertrial prisoner. Within weeks of his detention, he was sent to the Gopinath Bardoloi Mental Hospital at Tezpur. And despite repeated letters from the hospital authorities saying that Lalung had recovered and was fit to be taken back, the jail authorities did not respond.
It was only in July 2005 that he was finally released, on a bail for Re 1. The Indian Express report on the case prompted a PIL, following which the Supreme Court directed the Assam government to pay Lalung an interim compensation of Rs 3 lakh apart from a monthly subsistence allowance of Rs 1000. The state government was also directed to arrange regular medical check-up and free treatment for him.
“When we first heard that our granduncle was still alive, we simply could not believe it. When we were children, our grandmother used to tell us about her brother who went missing long ago,” said Sombar Pator, who lit the funeral pyre at the village cremation ground this afternoon.
“It was a strange life that our system forced upon this innocent man,” remarked Aneisha Sharma, whose 23-minute film Freedom at the Edge on Lalung earned accolades at the prestigious Boston International Film Festival earlier this year.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/254745.html
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