Documentary Screening & Discussion: Faceless People by R.K.Radhakrishnan
After nearly two months of disuse the polished panels of the Moot Court room finally saw some activity as students and professors streamed in to attend the first Guest Talk for the Spring Semester. Dr. R.K. Radhakrishnan and Mr. Sachitananda Valan were visiting our college for the screening of their documentary ‘Faceless People’, and to discuss the situation of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. In addition to the natural excitement that surrounds the very first session, our interests were also piqued by the focus of the session. As a college situated in Chennai, a fair amount of our student body is Tamil. As a result, most of us were quite familiar with the context of the documentary and already had questions buzzing before we even started.
Dr. Radhakrishnan and Mr. Valan kicked off the session with a short introduction of themselves, which considering their accolades was an admirable task. After that, the screening of the documentary began, and the Moot Court was transformed into a mini movie hall. To keep it short, the documentary was shot beautifully. The series of succinct interviews with the refugees, and the candid intentions of the makers captivated us and left a lasting impression. In addition to showing the refugees’ humanity, the documentary also brought up necessary statistics and figures to remind us that this was not just some movie, and that what they were presenting was the lives of all Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu.
The question-and-answer session that followed, skillfully conducted by our writing instructor S Mukundan, was also deeply insightful. Dr. Radhakrishnan answered each question clearly and stayed to the point along with Mr. Valan who pitched in to share his views as well. They not only explained the context but backed up their claims with hard statistics.
Unfortunately, our curiosity was constrained by time, and we had to break for lunch before all our questions could be answered. In a show of consideration, both guests stayed back after the session to answer the remaining queries that us students still had. If this isn’t enough to convince you how insightful we found the session, I’d like to share that my friends and I found us discussing it even days after it was over. And in a world of too-short deadlines and too many assignments, that might just be the ultimate compliment.
