Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s Writing With Fire is a powerful documentary about the fearless journalists behind Khabar Lahariya, India’s only newspaper run by Dalit (“untouchable”) women.
Winner of top awards at the Sundance and San Francisco film festivals and shortlisted by the International Documentary Association for their 2022 Best Documentary award, Writing With Fire will be featured at the upcoming 2021 DOC NYC festival. It will open in New York (Film Forum), Los Angeles (Laemmle Royal) and Chicago (Gene Siskel Film Center) on Friday, November 26 with other cities to follow in December.
Reporting from a social environment built to divide based on caste and gender, a fearless group of journalists maintain India’s only women-led news outlet. The women of Khabar Lahariya – all from the Dalit (“untouchables” caste) – prepare to transition the newspaper from print to digital even though many of their reporters don’t have access to electricity at home. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her team of journalists confront some of India’s biggest issues—investigating cases of caste and gender violence, police corruption, environmental injustices, and more.
Writing With Fire chronicles the astonishing determination of these local reporters as they empower each other and hold those responsible for injustice to account. Reaching new audiences through their growing platform, the women of Khabar Lahariya redefine what it means to be powerful.
Watch the official trailer for Writing With Fire.
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