TIFF-2022 award for documentary on Ravish Kumar
New Delhi: ‘While We Watched’, the 94-minute Hindi documentary by award-winning filmmaker Vinay Shukla on the professional journey of Magsaysay Award winning Indian journalist Ravish Kumar, won the Amplify Voices Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF-2022).
‘While We Watched’ – titled ‘Namaskar! Main Ravish Kumar’ in Hindi – was produced by BRITDOC Films and LONO Studio.
A film that focuses on Ravish Kumar’s efforts to uphold facts and truth and simultaneously unveil mere hearsay, ‘While We Watched’ received a standing ovation at the film festival.
TIFF film programmer Thom Powers said that people concerned with the future of television journalism ought to watch the documentary, since, although its tale is situated in India, its reference to putting forth truth fighting the spread of falsehood would be applicable in any country.
Shukla called the feature-length film an expression of his love for journalism. He also called journalists ‘the greatest storytellers of our times’.
Speaking on communicating with Ravish Kumar who won the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2019, Shukla said that he watched the veteran journalist at work for two years, the way the team ascertained the truth behind a news piece. This, the director said, taught him the efforts put in behind the screen, even every sort of cost the journalist paid, for every news show that a viewer watched. Since he realized it was a tough job, the film was a tribute to the personal cost that journalists pay to get their job right, Shukla stressed.
Luke W Moody, who is one of the producers of the film, called it an effort at bringing to light the loss that the world would face if such quality journalism had to die.
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Death toll from Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon rises from 8 to 24, Lebanese news agency says
Deir al-Balah, Nov 1: Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country's news agency said, raising the death toll from eight there.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Israel's military has said that its operation in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Lebanon's state National news Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across country's northeast, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted house.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese lawmaker representing the region in Baalbek-Hermel region, said that 60,000 people have already fled their homes in the area due to Israeli bombardment.
