Director Kunjila Mascillamani detained for protesting against exclusion of her film at Kerala’s film festival

Kunjila Mascillamani took to her Facebook account to post videos and photos of being dragged away from stage and taken into a police jeep.

Kunjila Mascillamani was detained in Kozhikode. (Photo: Facebook/Kunjila Mascillamani)

Filmmaker Kunjila Mascillamani was detained by the cops on Saturday at the International Women’s Film Festival in Kozhikode, Kerala. Kunjila was protesting against the exclusion of her film Asanghatithar from the three-day film festival organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy.

Kunjila was forcibly dragged from the stage where she was protesting and shouting anti-government slogans. The cops then took her for a medical examination at Beach Hospital, Kozhikode before transferring her to a police station.

Kunjila Mascillamani took to her Facebook account to post videos and photos of being dragged away from stage and taken into a police jeep. She later told The New Minute, “I was manhandled. The police did not even make it clear if they have recorded an arrest.”

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Earlier on Saturday, Kunjila posted a screenshot of her text to Ranjith, Chairman of KSCA, where she asked him details about the selection process and committee members. She also questioned him about excluding Asanghatithar from the festival.

Also read | Freedom Fight’s Asangadithar and Prajapathiku Thooran Muttiyapol: On the politics of human excreta

Asanghatithar is part of an anthology titled Freedom Fight. The docu fiction realistically narrates a historical protest by women workers led by Viji Palathod, a tailor-turned-activist who was named in the BBC’s list of 100 influential women, for the right to urinate and toilet for women in unorganised work sectors in Kozhikode district.

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