FILMAKERS AS HARBINGERS OF JUSTICE

Films are the new trend, a new way in which the problems of the society are bought to light
and ways are provided to deal with them. This world of films has given some of the best
filmmakers who not only are able to entertain but also move beyond this array of
entertainment and cause some change to the society through their art and wisdom. These
filmmakers took the concepts from the real life situations of certain groups or people and
bought them to light on a global stage. Such filmmakers and their actions portrayed through
their films help in bringing about a change on a global scale by making such problems public
and show to the world how a certain section or group suffers without even letting us know.
These filmakers include some who have changed the whole world for better.. there are also
some libraries called as filmaker which contain a lot of documentaries and wortks of various
filmmakers. These documentaries are short 5 to 10 minute videos which portray the situation
of people in varioius parts of the world.Filmakers Library has been distributing documentary
films for almost 40 years, starting with a landmark, cinema verite documentary called Birth
and Death. The collections grew from life cycle films to a constantly widening perspective of
issue oriented documentaries. Gathering films from American independents as well as
filmmakers from all over the world, they are proud to make available these insightful
documentaries1. These inculde a lot of documentaies as well as biographies which bring to
the knowledge of the world the happenings of various places around the world

Economic Roots of St.louis Race Riots-

In old East St. Louis, there was always a constant struggle between capital and labor. Industry
reps determined to break the white unions, spread word to southern blacks that East St. Louis
was a place where you can get a new start. They hired blacks to work at significantly lower
wages than whites and adopted a policy of increasing the black labor force in order to limit
the demands of white workers. This policy divided the river front town along racial lines.

From this we understand that the documentaries bring to light the various events in this world
and make them known at a global lvl but there are also some fimls which doucmented or
began certain instances that no one considered as real . The most major one being

1 Alexander street library

Stephen Spielberg-

This is a man who, despite a net worth of 3.7 billion dollars, once declared that, “I’m not
interested in making money. That’s always come as the result of success, but it’s not been my
goal.” For one of his most world-changing films, the Oscar-winning 1993 hit, Schindler’s
List, it was education.

“The Holocaust had been treated as just a footnote in so many textbooks or not mentioned at
all,” says Spielberg in an interview with the National Council for the Social Studies.
“Millions knew little if anything about it. Others tried to deny it happened at all.”

Spielberg, through Schindler’s List, worked to raise awareness of one of the most horrific
events in history. In the same interview, Spielberg went on to say that “The most important
lessons are lessons of truth and tolerance so that such an event will not happen again to any
people. There is still too much hatred in the world today.”

The director then used such proceeds from the film to grant money to Holocaust memorial
efforts, as well as he found an organization dedicated to collecting historical testimonies and
writings from survivors.

A man who works to expose vital aspects of life, history through his era-defining blockbuster
films, Spielberg is one director who has most definitely left his mark on the world in more
ways than one.

Charlie Chaplin-

When most think of Charlie Chaplin, one thinks of the actor’s silent comedies. He was one of
the most important figures in the transition from movies being, essentially, filmed plays, to
the movies as we see today. His onscreen persona, the Tramp, was, and is, one of the most
recognized images in the world.

Consider this quote from his 1940 film, The Great Dictator

"Soldiers, don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you, who
regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet
you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men,
machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines. You are not
cattle. You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate. Only the
unloved hate. Soldiers, don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty!"

Chaplin was the first to show the world the power of film to fight injustice, setting the stage
for numerous films that would go on to expose and take down sources of inhumanity

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-

38-year-old Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a relative newcomer,a Pakistani journalist and

activist, Obaid-Chinoy has been the recipient of numerous awards, including six Emmys for
her documentary work.

That work has changed the course of actua2l governments—her film, A Girl in the River: The
Price of Forgiveness, highlights the issues of honor killings in Pakistan, following the story
of an 18-year-old woman who was murdered by relatives seeking to regain their family’s
honor. She was dumped into a river, but lived, miraculously, to tell her story.

Honor killings are not often discussed in Pakistan, and this is why Obaid-Chinoy chose this
particular topic.The power of her art was revealed when, in her Oscar acceptance speech for
the film, she told the audience that Pakistan’s prime minister had seen her film, and
subsequently vowed to change the law on honor killings.

“That is the power of film,” she said.

Obaid-Chinoy’s other projects cover topics such as acid attacks on women in Pakistan, and
she constantly seeks to highlight humanitarian issues in her home country through her film
work.

She’s succeeding, and that is why she is one director who is actively changing the world—not
only in film, but in law and humanitarian efforts, as well.

Sarah Gavron-

"Suffragette," opening Oct. 23, explores the hard work and sacrifice that went into winning
women the right to vote in Britain in the early part of the last century, with purposeful echoes
of similar fights for women's rights that continue today.

2 Crunchbase
The film centers on Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan), a married mother who works in a large
London laundry. She becomes radicalized by events and becomes a follower of feminist
leader Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) and part of an activist underground fighting for
women's suffrage.

Deepa Mehta-

Deepa Mehta has been much appreciated for the portrayal of strong women, especially in her
Elements trilogy – Fire, Earth and Water. Fire dealt with issues like unhappy marriages and
homosexuality in the patriarchal society. Earth dealt with the communal strife in the backdrop
of the partition of India and formation of Pakistan. Water had themes of suicide, misogyny,
and the ill-treatment of widows in rural India.

The Maysles Brothers-

Proud members of the “direct cinema” movement, the Maysles began their career shooting
two documentaries behind the Iron Curtain. Albert and David were a one-two punch; Albert
would work the camera while David recorded the sound. Together they redefined the
approach to documentary filmmaking. Whether it involved following the door-to-door
activities of a “Salesman” or capturing a traumatic event in what was supposed to be a
concert film (the galvanizing “Gimmie Shelter” which is about the notorious Rolling Stones
concert at Altamont), the Maysles had an uncanny track record for being at the right place at
the right time. As a testament to their role as influencers, their New England gothic “Grey
Gardens” is not just a legendary documentary in its own right but has inspired both a
Broadway musical and HBO film starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore.

Marcel Ophuls-

In 1933, Marcel Ophuls and his family left his native Germany and settled in France.
Although he started off as a feature filmmaker, it wasn’t until 1969 did he utilize his
background in television news reporting by directing “The Sorry and the Pity.” An
examination of the collaboration between the Vichy government and Nazi Germany during
World War II, its influence cannot be denied, especially in the way it depicts the
psychological effect war has on a single populace. It still remains as one of the most affecting
peaks into wartime anti-Semitism and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1971. It has
also been immortalized as Woody Allen’s obsession in the award winning “Annie Hall.”
In conclusion we see that filmakers as documentaries on the net bring to light various global
events happening in front of our eyes but are difficult to believe and also brings new events to
our knowledge , while some of the major fimlakers made long documentaries of the major
events in the world which no one wanted to believe and this bought about social justice and
various notions to human emotions and helped shape the world to what it is today.

Name -Anmol Kumar

Roll no.- 03010303816

Class-3-A