Democracy in Crisis surveys the Babri-Masjid/Ayodhya events religious strife in India. [More about the film] Rishte, 1995. Following the story of Lali Devi, a mother of five daughters who poisoned herself and two of her daughters, Rishte explores the practice of male sex preference in India and how this led to her suicide. This moving and informative film also follows the efforts of Shyamkali, an activist who has established a community organization dedicated to raising Indian women's awareness about the impact of sex preference on their lives and their legal rights in this issue. Rishte is part of the series Women's Lives and Choices which was produced by Daniel Riesenfeld for the John D.

New View, New Eyes. Shot on location in Bombay, Udaipur, Lucknow, Delhi and Toronto, this visual poem by a Canadian-based filmmaker, is about encountering a land never seen or imagined. Nazli Jamil Haque.
Women of Orangi. A documentary about how women changed a town's life for the better by selfhelp and leadership initiatives.

Roots in the Sand. 1998. An hour-long documentary on the Punjabi-Mexican marriages of Southern California, shows how race-based laws of the 1920's and 30's created and shaped a bicultural community Madhurika Sona Jain
Vasarma's Lovers, 2000. Fiction, 12 min. Contact: mj251@is7.nyu.edu.

A Song of Ceylon. A formally rigorous, visually stunning study of colonialism, gender and the body. The title echoes the classic British documentary and evokes a country erased from the world map. The soundtrack enacts a Sri Lankan anthropological text observing a woman's ritual exorcism. Visually, the film brings together theatrical conventions and recreations of classic film stills, presenting the body in striking tableaux. This remarkable film is a provocative treatise on hybridity, hysteria and performance. Contact Women Make Movies, email orders@wmm om, fax 212 925-2052

Roots in the Sand. 1998. An hour-long documentary on the Punjabi-Mexican marriages of Southern California, shows how race-based laws of the 1920's and 30's created and shaped a bicultural community Madhurika Sona Jain
Vasarma's Lovers, 2000. Fiction, 12 min. Contact: mj251@is7.nyu.edu.

Once This Land Was Ours, 1991. A poetic documentary about women agriculture workers in India and their struggle to provide for their families. Although they work to produce food for others, they have increasing difficulties feeding their own children. Through moving testimonies and images of the women at work, the tape explores the feminization of poverty in rural India. Particularly useful for discussions about Third World development and women's labor. Contact Women Make Movies, email orders@wmm.com, fax 212 925-2052

Yasmine Kabir is an independent film maker who is a founding member of NARIKA, a non-profit South Asian women's organization in San Francisco working in the area of domestic violence. She is currently working on a documentary depicting the plight of Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia. Duhshomoy (A Mother's Lament). Rape and death of Shima Chowdhury. The film recounts the story of the rape and death of Shima Choudhury in "safe" custody in Chittagong Central Jail in Bangladesh and calls for state accountability for the continuing practice of incarcerating women and girls on 'reasonable suspicion" and the consequent denial of their fundamental human rights to life and liberty. Shima's death has become a landmark issue in the Bangladeshi women's struggle against institutional oppression. Through a series of interviews the film focuses on such issues as safety in the hands of the police, accountability of the law enforcement agencies, the legality of Section 54 of criminal procedure that allows detention of women and children without arrest warrant, and the disempowerment of the poor.

Six short films in Hindi: Liquor and State Policy, Dowry: Compulsion or need?, The Disinheritance of Women, India's Traditional Technologists, License Permit Raj: a view from below, Agriculture and Sarkari control. 30 mins each. See the Manushi website for availability.

Knowing Her Place. A powerful and moving investigation of the cultural schizophrenia experienced by Vasu, an Indian woman who has spent most of her life in the U.S. Vasu's relationships with her mother and 92- year-old grandmother in India, and her husband and teenage sons on New York reveal profound conflicts between her traditional upbringing and personal and professional aspirations. This film fuses photographs, variety sequences, and experimental techniques to probe the multilayered experience of immigrant women with rare candor and emotional resonance. Rented or sold by Women Make Movies, Inc., 462 Broadway, Suite 500, New York, NY 10013.

Roots in the Sand. 1998. An hour-long documentary on the Punjabi-Mexican marriages of Southern California, shows how race-based laws of the 1920's and 30's created and shaped a bicultural community Madhurika Sona Jain
Vasarma's Lovers, 2000. Fiction, 12 min. Contact: mj251@is7.nyu.edu.

Rudaali. Stars Dimple Kapadia and Rakhee Gulzar. Set in Rajasthan, they are two trong independent women who survive in spite of the weak men in their lives and countless tragedies.