Festival Jean Rouch 2025: "Marching in the Dark" wins the Prix Mondes en regards
The festival runs until May 24 at the Musée de l'Homme, the Musée du Quai Branly and the Reflet Médicis cinema, pending the Regards comparés selection next November at Inalco.
Mondes en regards 2025 prize
The Inalco jury decided to award the Prix Mondes en regards to the film Marching in the Dark by Kinshuk Surjan (India). The jury members were particularly moved by this film showing the stigmatization of widows in India and their resilience. The film shows the impact of their husbands' suicides on the daily lives of these widows. These widows not only mourn, but also redefine their daily lives, their place in society and their difficulties in an agricultural system that is leading to the casualization of male and female farmers.
They also appreciated the prominence given to the protagonists involved in the film's creation and post-production. In addition, they salute the efforts made by the film teams to set up a place of exchange and mutual support, which will have had an impact on the lives of these women. This remarkably technical and beautifully photographed film perfectly represents the "Mondes en regards" prize, forcing us to turn our eyes to these forgotten women whom society refuses to see.
The film will be screened at Inalco in the first half of the year 2025-2026.
Synopsis
After the suicide of her farmer husband, Sanjivani toils to give her children a better life. At the heart of an Indian culture marked by disinterest in widows and their loneliness, Sanjivani struggles to find her place, until she joins a discussion group for women in the same situation. Through support, listening and sharing experiences, she finds in solidarity the power to invent the next step in her journey.
I was beginning to feel discouraged when I saw the statistics on suicides in the newspapers every year, figures that had become almost commonplace. But then I asked myself: if farmers were standing up and taking action, why should I just stand by?
Kinshuk Surjan, director of Marching in the Dark
About the director
Kinshuk Surjan is an Indian filmmaker living between Brussels and Bhopal. His graduation film won the National Student Film Award for best student film in India. After working as assistant director on Island City, which won an award at the Venice Film Festival, Kinshuk completed a master's degree at DocNomads. As part of this training, he directed De Flandrien, which was screened on Belgian television.
Special mention
The Inalco jury wanted to give a special mention to the film We Are Inside by Farah Kassem (Lebanon), which opened the doors to a touching father-daughter relationship and Lebanon's political and social issues, through poetry.
Inalco 2025 jury members
- Camille Aguilar Reinat
Trained as a Mayanist, Camille Aguilar Reinat learned Yucatecan Maya at Inalco, where she now teaches it. As part of her doctoral thesis, she is interested in the evolution of politico-religious rhetoric in Mayan correspondence, which she approaches through anthropology, history and linguistics. In addition to her archival research, she regularly travels to Quintana Roo to share in the lives of the inhabitants of the Mayan-speaking village of Pino Suarez. - Étoile Connan-Ringay
A second-year student in the LLCER Siamese and Intercultural Communication and Training degree program at Inalco, she has nurtured a deep passion for art in all its forms from an early age, with a particular affection for cinema. She aspires to become a director and journalist in this field. Curious and committed, she finds inspiration in the diversity of cultural and artistic expression. Her keen interest in minorities and cinema guides her gaze and enriches her vision of the world. - Emma Bahous
Charged with the processing of archive collections within the Service de l'information scientifique, des archives et du patrimoine at Inalco, she holds a Master's degree in Archives from Paris 8. She is responsible for managing the establishment's administrative archives, as well as promoting scientific archives, particularly those of teacher-researchers.