Panelist & Guests:
RADHIKA SINGHA: Noted author. Retd Professor for Modern Indian History at Jawaharlal Nehru University UTPAL BORPUJARI: Double National Film Award winner as film critic and filmmaker PATRICIA MUKHIM: Editor, The Shillong Times, Padmashree, columnist, author, and award-winning journalist ALVAREEN D. DKHAR:Daughter of World War I veteran L. Primrose Gatphoh & Granddaughter of Myllung Soso Tham. Writer and Retd Chair Person - Meghalaya Public Services Commission WANPHRANG K DIENGDOH: Independent filmmaker. Founder of Reddur Productions, a collective that promotes independent films and music production
About the film: 100 years have passed since the First World War began- the war that was the beginning of all wars. Nations and communities all over the world have directly or indirectly been affected by it. Some of these experiences are evident today while some have been internalised as time glosses over pages of history. ‘Because We Did Not Choose’ looks at the First World War and the involvement of communities at a time when spaces inhabited by them were transitioning or struggling to accommodate modernity and the rest of its implications. Shot over a period of 4 years, this is the only film from India that examines the participation of indigenous labour in the theatres of the First World War. Research and filming was carried out across India, France, Wales and England. The film was supported by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Government of Meghalaya, the Goethe Institut and produced by reddur productions. Premiered at the Indian High Commission, Mayfair, London 2017.
FILM SCREENING & PANEL DISCUSSION
Because We Did Not Choose 2017 | Documentary | 92 mins English | Khasi |Welsh | Pnar Written, Researched, Filmed and Edited By Wanphrang K Diengdoh
