VALLEY STUDENTS MAKE FILM ON UNREST

SRINAGAR: Hundreds of reports and essays have been written on the ongoing Kashmir unrest in the last five months and thousands of photographs have been taken. But, for the first time, the first 120 days of the unrest has been captured on film by independent local film-makers.

Directed by two journalism students of the Media Education Research Centre, Kashmir University — Sheikh Adnan (23) and Furqan Khurshid (23) — Tales of Siege narrates how the continuous state-imposed curfew and strike by separatists has played out in the Valley.

The film is desribed as a movie about the “resilience and survival of people of Kashmir” in the first 120 days of thr unrest.

The duo, which also kickstarted their YouTube channel, called Raconteur, with the film, was helped by their batch mates Saher Iqbal and Muneem Farooq. They are all third semester students at the University.

The 18-minute-long film was uploaded on YouTube on Sunday and had garnered 2,500 views in less than 24 hours.

The number of views climbed to 4,675 by Tuesday evening.

“The idea was to talk to all stake holders of the conflict, understand the events that had unfolded and present an unbiased picture of what really happened,” Adnan said.

He adds that most officials did not agree to interview requests, making it difficult for the filmmakers who wanted to present all sides of the events.

The film was shot from October 8 to November 7, because, Adnan says, “before around Kashmir before that was difficult.” The team says they were not allowed to shoot pellet victims inside hospitals by authorities. The short film captures what many Kashmiri youth think about militant commander Burhan Wani, how mobile internet was banned for more than four months, how prayers were disallowed Jamia Masjid for 19 weeks.