'On a Tightrope' is a film about children learning to walk the tightrope while living in a government orphanage in the Xinjiang province in China. The children are Uyghurs (also known as Uighurs) - members of China's eight million minority Muslim community.

The children start learning to tightrope walk, but within a few months, they are judged inadequate by their coach. Now some of their dreams change: one wants to become a teacher, another, a professional singer. One of them, however, feels he is simply too small to be good at anything.

One year later, a different coach comes to the orphanage. Through love and kindness, he turns the children's initial failure at tightrope walking into success. The film culminates with their performance on a high wire in front of their entire hometown.
The film unfolds as a rather simple narrative of the failures and successes of the children in the orphanage, but the restrictive and oppressive policies enforced by the Chinese government are ubiquitously manifest in their daily lives – classroom lessons about Mao and Marx, upholding the pursuit of scientific knowledge and pledges denouncing the freedom to practice their religion.

Duration: 75 minutes with English subtitles.

Credits:
Director and Co-Producer : Petr Lom.
Cameraman and Editor : Petr Lom.
Producer : Torstein Grude.
Associate Producer : Bjarte Mørner Tveit.
Executive Producers : Anna Contomitros, Torstein Grude,
Therese Jebsen, Jan Rofekamp, Jan Ramstad.
Music : Reshide Dawut.

PETR LOM is a former academic with a Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University. Lom taught at several European universities from 1999-2004 and began making documentaries in 2004, specializing in human rights films. His first film, 'Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan', has been broadcast in more than twenty countries, screened at over sixty festivals around the world, and received numerous awards. His second film, 'On a Tightrope', about the Uyghur Muslim minority in China, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, has been broadcast in sixteen countries.

AWARDS/ FESTIVALS
2006 Watch Doc Award; Watch Docs, Warszawa.
2007 Short Film Grand Prix; Chicago International Documentary Film Festival.
2007 International Section Award; Astra Film Festival.



Venue: Prithvi House, Opposite Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu.
Date: 30th June 2008 (Monday)
Time: 7 pm & 9 pm. (Two shows).

No Entry Fee. Limited Seating.

The registration desk will be open between 6 pm to 6:45 pm and 8 pm to 8:45 pm only at Prithvi House on 30th June.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT ON XINJIANG
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is a large, sparsely populated area which takes up about one sixth of the country's territory. Xinjiang borders the Tibet Autonomous Region to the south and Qinghai and Gansu provinces to the southeast, Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and the Pakistan-and India-controlled parts of Kashmir to the west. It administers most of Aksai Chin, a region claimed by India as part of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Xinjiang" or "Ice Jecen" in Manchu literally means "New Frontier", a name given during the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China. It is home to a number of Turkic ethnic groups, the largest of which are the Uyghurs. The region is often referred to as Chinese Turkestan or East Turkestan.

Fearing the Uighurs' separatist movement, China rules with an iron fist in Xinjiang and enforces a policy of cultural and political assimilation in Xinjiang: religion is particularly targeted. Human Rights Watch reports that 10000 Uighurs are political prisoners, and hundreds have been executed. China claims they are terrorists.

This screening is brought to you by Vikalp: Films for Freedom in association with Prithvi Theatre.

*The above information is courtesy Vikalp. Mumbai Theatre Guide takes no responsibility for change in schedule.