WATCH TRAILER

Pink Saris

A film by Kim Longinotto

UK/India | 2010 | 96 minutes | Color | DVD | Hindi | Subtitled | Order No. 101009

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SYNOPSIS

“A girl’s life is cruel...A woman’s life is very cruel,” notes Sampat Pal, the complex protagonist at the center of PINK SARIS, internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto’s latest foray into the lives of extraordinary women (SISTERS IN LAW, DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE, ROUGH AUNTIES). Sampat should know – like many others she was married as a young girl into a family which made her work hard and beat her often. But unusually, she fought back, leaving her in-laws and eventually becoming famous as a champion for beleaguered women throughout Uttar Pradesh, many of whom find their way to her doorstep. Like Rekha, a fourteen year old Untouchable, who is three months pregnant and homeless – unable to marry her unborn child’s father because of her low caste. Fifteen year old Renu's husband from an arranged marriage has abandoned her, her father-in-law has been raping her and she's threatening to throw herself under a train. Both young women, frightened and desperate, reach out for their only hope: Sampat Pal and her Gulabi Gang, Northern India’s women vigilantes in pink.

PINK SARIS is an unflinching and often amusing look at these unlikely political activists and their charismatic leader; in extraordinary scenes, we watch Sampat launch herself into the centre of family dramas, witnessed by scores of spectators, convinced her mediation is the best path for these vulnerable girls. Her partner Babuji, who has watched Sampat change over the years, is less certain...

PRESS

"Kim Longinotto's work (Sisters in Law, Divorce Iranian Style, Rough Aunties) is well-situated in a rubric of third-world feminism..."

Bryce Renninger Films for the Feminist Classroom

“The beauty of sitting down to watch a new Kim Longinotto film is that even if you don’t have any idea what it’s about, you can trust that it’s going to deliver. Her latest, PINK SARIS, is no exception.”

Hammer to Nail

“PINK SARIS is easily one of the most interesting, relevant and fascinating documentaries I have ever seen.”

London Film Festival

“Complex and compelling.”

Eye on Film

“[Longinotto’s] most dramatic film since the remarkably explosive DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE.”

Screen Daily

“Highly Recommended.”

Educational Media Reviews Online

“…a remarkably honest and urgent film, and Sampat is an unforgettable character. …Suitable for some mature high school classes and for college courses in cultural anthropology, anthropology of women/gender, anthropology of violence, and South Asian/Indian studies, as well as general audiences.”

David Eller Anthropology Review Database

“Perhaps the personal details that [Pal] literally screams into the street are meant to make verbal abuse, beatings, and rapes harder to cover up. By making her cases so public, she charges the entire community with responsibility for ending these abuses.”

Bitch Magazine

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Abu Dhabi Int'l Film Festival, Best Documentary
  • Sheffield Doc Fest, Special Jury Prize
  • CPH:DOX, Amnesty Award
  • Nominated as a 2011 ALA “Notable Video for Adults”
  • British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), 2011 Nomination, Best Single Documentary
  • Prix Europa 2011 Award Nomination
  • Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2011, Best Documentary Feature Film, High Commendation
  • One World Film Festival Kyrgyzstan IFF, Special Jury Prize
  • Airtel Jaipur International Film Festival, Winner, Yellow Rose Award
  • Mumbai International Film Festival, Winner, Golden Conch for Best Documentary Film above 40 Minutes Duration
  • Africa Int’l Film Fest, Nigeria
  • Off Plus Camera, Poland
  • Reykjavik Shorts&Docs Festival
  • Message 2 Man International Film Festival, Jury Diploma
  • UNAFF - United Nations Association Film Festival
  • Al-Jazeera Film Festival 2011, Winner, Al Jazeera Golden Award for Long Films
  • Hong Kong International Film Festival, Winner, Humanitarian Award for Outstanding Documentary
  • Sguardi Altrove Film Festival, Honorable Mention
  • This Human World Film Fest, Vienna
  • Women's Film Fest, Seoul
  • Glasgow Film Fest, Scotland
  • Dox Box Film Fest, Syria
  • Agadir Film Fest, Morocco
  • Gothenburg Film Fest, Sweden
  • Hong Kong Int’l Film Fest
  • Docpoint, Helsinki
  • London Film Festival
  • Cinema Verite Film Fest, Tehran
  • Goa Int’l Film Fest, India
  • Viennale, Austria
  • Brisbane Film Fest, Australia
  • WATCH DOCS Human Rights Film Fest, Warsaw
  • Films From The South, Norway
  • Valladolid, Spain
  • Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM)
  • Doc NYC
  • AFI/Los Angeles Film Fest
  • Vermont Int’l Film Fest
  • Vancouver Intl Film Fest
  • Encuentros del Otro Cine, Ecuador
  • Toronto International Film Festival
  • International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Kim Longinotto

Kim Longinotto (born 1952) is a British documentary filmmaker, well known for making films that highlight the plight of female victims of oppression or discrimination. Longinotto studied camera and directing at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, England, where she now tutors occasionally.

Longinotto was born to an Italian father and a Welsh mother; her father was a photographer who later went bankrupt. At the age of 10 she was sent to a draconian all-girls boarding school, where she found it hard to make friends due to the mistress forbidding anyone to talk to her for a term after she became lost during a school trip. After a period of homelessness, Longinotto went on to Essex University to study English and European literature and later followed friend and future filmmaker, Nick Broomfield to the National Film and Television School. While studying, she made a documentary about her boarding school that was shown at the London Film Festival, since when she has continued to be a prolific documentary filmmaker.

Longinotto is an observational filmmaker. Observational cinema, also known as direct cinema, free cinema or cinema verite, usually excludes certain documentary techniques such as advanced planning, scripting, staging, narration, lighting, reenactment and interviewing. Longinotto’s unobtrusiveness, which is an important part of observational documentary, gives the women on camera a certain voice and presence that may not have emerged with another documentary genre. She has received a number of awards for her films over the years, including a BAFTA for her documentary PINK SARIS.

Among her more than 20 films, she has followed a teenager struggling to become a wrestling star in 2000’s GAEA GIRLS, challenged the tradition of female genital mutilation in Kenya in 2002’s THE DAY I WILL NEVER FORGET, and told the story of an Indian Muslim woman who smuggled poetry out to the world while locked up by her family in 2013’s SALMA. In 2015's DREAMCATCHER Longinotto looks at the life and work of a former sex worker who rescues Chicago girls from the street.

Her new film SHOOTING THE MAFIA, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. (3/19)

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Invoking Justice

In Southern India, family disputes are settled by Jamaats—all male bodies which apply Islamic Sharia law to cases without allowing women to be present, even to defend themselves. Recognizing this fundamental inequity, a group of women in 2004 established a women’s Jamaat, which soon became a network of 12,000 members spread over 12 districts. Despite enormous resistance, they have been able to settle more than 8,000 cases to date, ranging from divorce to wife beating to brutal murders and more. Award-winning filmmaker Deepa Dhanraj (SOMETHING LIKE A WAR) follows several cases, shining a light on how the women’s Jamaat has acquired power through both communal education and the leaders’ persistent, tenacious and compassionate investigation of the crimes. In astonishing scenes we watch the Jamaat meetings, where women often shout over each other about the most difficult facets of their personal lives. Above all, the women’s Jamaat exists to hold their male counterparts and local police to account, and to reform a profoundly corrupt system which allows men to take refuge in the most extreme interpretation of the Qur’an to justify violence towards women.
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Light Fly, Fly High

Thulasi, a young Indian woman in her twenties, is literally willing to box her way out of poverty and into a better life. A Dalit or “untouchable” born outside of caste, she rejected her place on society’s lowest rung at an early age and was forced to leave her parents’ home when only 14. Ten years later, despite her impressive record in the ring, ranking 3rd in India’s Light Fly category, Thulasi remains stuck at the bottom, deprived of opportunities she rightly deserves. Despite an uphill battle against sexual harassment, poverty and the pressure to marry, Thulasi refuses to compromise herself and her goals and takes her destiny into her own hands. Filmed during three eventful years, LIGHT FLY, FLY HIGH is a beautifully shot, gripping and inspirational story of a courageous young woman who refuses to be anyone’s victim and ends up a hero of her own making against all odds.
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Casablanca Calling

As political conflict and change sweep the Arab world, CASABLANCA CALLING highlights a quiet social revolution under way in Morocco, where 60% of the women have never attended school. For the first time, Moroccan women are trained and employed as official Muslim leaders or morchidat. Charged with teaching an Islam based on tolerance, compassion and equality, they provide vital support and guidance to communities, especially to girls and women. At the film’s heart are Hannane, Bouchra and Karima, three morchidat assigned to mosques in different parts of Morocco. CASABLANCA CALLING follows them for a year on rounds to schools and other sites to provide advice on marriage and employment; champion education for girls and women; caution against early marriage; and help resolve personal problems. Offering unique access to a story we rarely see, this illuminating documentary demonstrates how women’s empowerment through moderate Islam is transforming a nation.
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India's Daughter

INDIA’S DAUGHTER is the powerful story of the 2012, brutal gang rape on a Delhi bus of a 23 year old medical student, who later died from her injuries. In 2012, it made international headlines and ignited protests by women in India and around the world. BAFTA winning filmmaker Leslee Udwin, herself a victim of rape, went to India inspired by the protests against sexual assault. With an all Indian crew, Udwin got exclusive, first time on camera interviews with the rapists and defense attorney, none of whom express remorse. The defense attorney goes even further, stating that “immodest” women deserve what happens to them. An impassioned plea for change, INDIA’S DAUGHTER pays tribute to a remarkable and inspiring young woman and explores the compelling human stories behind the incident and the political ramifications throughout India. But beyond India, the film lays bare the way in which societies and their patriarchal values have spawned such acts of violence globally.
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A Revolution in Four Seasons

The Tunisian Revolution sparked the Arab Spring. But revolution was the easy part—as two women learned on the journey from protest to functioning government. Emna Ben Jemaa and Jawhara Ettis represent opposite sides of their country’s politics: One is a well-known journalist in the city, fighting for free speech. The other is a strict Islamist from a rural town, elected to help draft the new constitution. Despite their differences, both face the threat of extremists hijacking their fragile political process, and both Emna and Jawhara have to make difficult choices to balance their public political roles with their domestic environment. The film is a gripping and surprising perspective on the clash between Islam and secularism, and the political role of women in the Arab world. Offering an insightful portrait of the messy work of democracy, A REVOLUTION IN FOUR SEASONS is especially poignant in this global era of divided politics.
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Lovesick

A hopeful look at one doctor’s struggle to help HIV+ patients in India find love and meet societal expectations by playing marriage matchmaker.
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