Oscars 2022 Best Documentary Feature: India's Writing With Fire Loses To Summer Of Soul
"Writing With Fire", the Indian documentary that chronicled the rise of a newspaper run by Dalit women, lost to "Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)" in the best documentary feature category a
"Writing
With
Fire",
the
Indian
documentary
that
chronicled
the
rise
of
a
newspaper
run
by
Dalit
women,
lost
to
"Summer
of
Soul
(Or,
When
the
Revolution
Could
Not
Be
Televised)" in
the
best
documentary
feature
category
at
the
94th
edition
of
the
Oscars,
Hollywood's
biggest
awards
ceremony.
"Summer
Of
Soul
(Or,
When
The
Revolution
Could
Not
Be
Televised)" is
directed
by
the
Roots
frontman
Ahmir
Thompson,
best
known
by
his
stage
name
Questlove.
For
the
film,
Thompson
arranged
the
never-seen-before
archival
footage
of
the
Harlem
Cultural
Festival,
celebrating
African
American
music
and
culture,
and
promoting
Black
pride
and
unity,
attended
by
300,000
people
in
the
summer
of
1969.
Like
the
feature
"CODA",
the
acclaimed
documentary
feature
was
a
festival
favourite
winning
both
the
grand
jury
and
audience
awards
in
the
US
Documentary
Competition
category
at
the
Sundance
Film
Festival
2021.
Other
Oscar
nominees
in
the
best
documentary
feature
category
were
"Ascension",
"Attica" and
"Flee".
"Writing
with
Fire",
directed
by
debutants
Rintu
Thomas
and
Sushmit
Ghosh,
was
considered
a
dark
horse
in
the
Oscars
race
with
its
feel-good
story
of
Khabar
Lahariya,
India's
only
newspaper
run
by
Dalit
women.
But
just
weeks
before
the
award
ceremony,
the
film
was
mired
in
controversy
when
the
newspaper
organisation
issued
a
lengthy
statement
saying
the
documentary
did
not
accurately
present
their
story.
It
is
not
immediately
clear
whether
the
controversy
affected
the
documentary's
chances
at
the
Oscars.
Last
week,
Khabar
Lahariya
editor
Kavita
Bundelkhandi
said
the
film
portrayed
the
newspaper
"inaccurately" by
insinuating
that
it
only
focuses
on
reporting
on
issues
surrounding
"one
political
party".
"The
documentary
portrays
our
work
inaccurately
because
it
shows
only
a
part
of
what
we
do,
and
shows
that
ours
is
only
about
one
political
party,"
Bundelkhandi
told
PTI
without
naming
the
political
party.
She
said
they
were
proud
that
a
documentary
was
made
on
their
achievements
but
wished
it
was
a
more
rounded
portrayal.
Win
or
loss,
the
nomination
in
the
final
five
at
the
Oscars
is
a
huge
achievement
for
the
documentary
community
in
India,
which
has
been
steadily
making
a
mark
for
itself
in
the
international
festival
circles.
And
Ghosh
had
said
as
much
when
the
nominations
were
announced
in
February.
"This
is
a
massive
moment
for
us
and
for
Indian
cinema...
This
film
is
about
fearless
Dalit
women
journalists
who
are
redefining
what
being
powerful
means,
quintessentially
the
story
of
the
modern
Indian
woman," Ghosh
had
told
PTI.
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