Gandhi film wins top US award

Ahimsa – Gandhi: The power of the Powerless, directed by award-winning Ramesh Sharma, has won the Best Documentary Feature Award at the 21st New York Indian Film Festival.

“We are honoured. For us, the award affirms the importance of Gandhi’s teachings and his impact on freedom struggles around the world which we capture in the film. We’re also delighted to be perpetuating Gandhi’s legacy,” said producer Anant Singh.

Singh said he was delighted to have collaborated again with Ramesh Sharma to create another award-winning documentary feature.

“While Gandhi has a global legacy, South Africa has a special connection with the Gandhi narrative as it was here in South Africa, that he became sensitised to issues of human rights and equality.

“Gandhi’s influence will continue to inspire and motivate other leaders to make change, through non-violence, for peace.”

Sharma and Singh announced that Ahimsa – Gandhi: The power of the Powerless will have its United Kingdom premiere at the London Indian Film Festival on Sunday in the festival’s Extra-Ordinary Lives section.

The festival – which is the largest South Asian Film Festival in the UK and Europe, has been held as a hybrid event from 17 June to 4 July with screenings at cinemas in London, Birmingham and Manchester, as well as through its own streaming platform, LoveLIFFatHome. com.

Ahimsa – Gandhi: The power of the Powerless, which was recently completed and partially shot in South Africa, speaks to the conscience of humanity as people globally grapple with intractable problems surrounding race (especially in the light of the Black Lives Matter Movement), and as societies struggle to give the marginalised and underserved human dignity and restore fundamental human rights.

The film brings to the fore the impact of the Gandhian message of non-violence worldwide – how it inspired Martin Luther King Jnr, John Lewis, Barack Obama and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States; the Solidarity Movement in Poland as well as Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. –