As part of the screening series Cinema with a Conscience, the Raah Lab co-organized a screening of While We Watched (2023) on 26 November 2023 at 251 Avenue Des Pins Ouest, Main Hall. This event was co-organized with Rang Collective, CERAS, Serai Montreal, Teesri Duniya and Fantasia.
While We Watched (2023) is a gripping newsroom drama on the life and struggles of broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar, a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award (2019), the Ramnath Goenka Excellence Award, the Gauri Lankesh Award, the Kuldip Nayar Award, and the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Award for Hindi Journalism and Creative Literature, against the backdrop of crumbling press freedom and rising networks of disinformation in India. The screening was followed by a Q & A with Ravish Kumar and the director Vinay Shukla (via zoom).
Mr. Kumar's reportage contrasts sharply with government-owned, censored print and blustering, high-decibel TV debates where public discourse has become a newsy entertainment. As press freedom dangerously disintegrates and self-censorship becomes a means to stay alive, Mr. Kumar fearlessly reports his sharp commentary while facing harassment and intimidation to his life and family and the looming threat of closure of his network.
While We Watched explores how a charismatic and conscience reporter transforms from a fearless commentator to a man worried for himself, his family, and the state of journalism in India. Mr. Kumar's story exemplifies a struggle to remain afloat in media censorship and state and non-state agencies' clampdowns. While We Watched is a film about a journalist's unshakable quest to speak the truth.
The film premiered at the Toronto International film festival in 2022 and has been doing the festival rounds ever since.
