Court
By: A film by Chaitanya Tamhane
Contributors: Desai, Mrinal, director of photography; Desai, Rikhav, editor of moving image work; Gomber, Vivek, actor, film producer; Sathidar, Vira, actor; Kulkarni, Geetanjali, actor; Pradeep, Joshi, actor; Bane, Usha, actor; Pavāra, Śirīsha, actor; Bhagat, Sambhaji, composer; Memento Films; Zoo Entertainment; Hubert Bals Fund; Zeitgeist Films
Published: 2014
Language: mul
Format: [videorecording] /
Number of pages: 116
Subjects: Drama; Trials (Sedition); Legal drama; Suicide victims; Indic Dramatists; Feature films
Description: "Winner of top prizes at the Venice and Mumbai film festivals, Chaitanya Tamhane's Court is a quietly devastating, absurdist portrait of injustice, caste prejudice, and venal politics in contemporary India. An elderly folk singer and grassroots organizer, dubbed the 'people's poet, ' is arrested on a trumped-up charge of inciting a sewage worker to commit suicide. His trial is a ridiculous and harrowing display of institutional incompetence, with endless procedural delays, coached witnesses for the prosecution, and obsessive privileging of arcane colonial law over reason and mercy. What truly distinguishes Court, however, is Tamhane's brilliant ensemble cast of professional and nonprofessional actors; his affecting mixture of comedy and tragedy; and his naturalist approach to his characters and to Indian society as a whole, rich with complexity and contradiction."--Provided by distributor.
Notes: Title statement from the container.

"Produced with the support of the Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam"--Onscreen closing credits.

"Dedicated to VK"--Onscreen closing credits.

Memento Films, Hubert Bals Fund, Zoo Entertainment, written and directed by Chaitanya Tamhane, produced by Vivek Gomber, original music by Sambhaji Bhagat.

Vira Sathidar, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Pradeep Joshi, Shirish Pawar, Usha Bane.

MPAA rating: Not rated.

DVD, DCP, 5.1 SRD, widescreen presentation.

Dialogue in Marathi, Hindi, English and Gujarati with English subtitles.

Winner of 17 international awards.