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Marching in the Dark
Invisible Casualties, Silent Resistance
Speakers
104 minutes | Marathi with English subtitles | Belgium, India, The Netherlands | 2024
What does courage look like when survival itself is an act of defiance?
Set against the backdrop of India’s agrarian crisis, this film follows Sanjeevani, a young widow who refuses to be defined by loss or by the social isolation imposed on women like her. Determined to build a future for herself and her children, she finds strength not in solitary endurance, but in community; connecting with other widows who share their grief, their fears, and their resolve. Together, they transform private sorrow into collective resilience.
Following the screening, filmmaker Kinshuk Surjan is joined by Kavita Kuruganti of Makaam, in conversation moderated by Swati Dandekar, to reflect on women farmers, labour, and the power of shared struggle. The session will close with a Q&A.
In collaboration with:
Speakers
Kinshuk Surjan
Kinshuk Surjan is an Indian filmmaker based between Brussels and Bhopal. His graduation film Pola, made at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, won the Indian National Student Film Awards for Best Film and Best Script in 2013. He later worked as a second assistant director on Island City, awarded at the Venice Film Festival, before pursuing a master’s degree at DocNomads. His films have screened widely, including Divided Lines at the Jihlava Film Festival in 2015. His debut feature documentary Marching in the Dark premiered at CPH:DOX in 2024, received a Special Mention from the Human Rights Award Jury, and won the Basil Wright Film Award at the RAI Film Festival.
Kavitha Kuruganti
Kavitha Kuruganti is a Mysore-based social activist intent on empowering farmers and improving sustainable farm livelihoods, with a special focus on the most marginalised and invisibilised farmers. Trained as a Development Communicator, she has been working in the field of sustainable agriculture and democratisation of science & technology for more than 32 years now. She is part of volunteer-driven national networks like ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture) and MAKAAM (Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch). Kavitha has served on several Government of India’s Committees/Task Forces in an advisory role. She also facilitates sessions on understanding the agrarian crisis in India.
Swati Dandekar
Swati Dandekar is a documentary filmmaker and film educator based in Bengaluru, whose work engages closely with the living histories of people, places, ideas, and practices, and with the processes of change that shape them. Alongside filmmaking, she has been deeply involved in designing media for education. As a founder trustee of Vikalp Bengaluru, she has curated and presented documentary film screenings and festivals in the city for over fifteen years. Swati currently heads the film programme at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bengaluru, where she continues to nurture critical visual storytelling and pedagogy.
