A Rifle and a Bag

India, Italy, Qatar, Romania202089 minGondiya, Madiya, Hindi with English subtitlesNorth American PremiereDocumentary, Family, Open Captions, Women Filmmakers

Somi and her husband met and fell in love while fighting alongside fellow Naxalites, a communist rebel group fighting for the rights of tribal communities in India for the past 50 years. Although the group represents a quarter of the population and lives in extreme poverty, Naxalites are seen as the biggest threat to national security for the State of India.

After a decade of armed struggle, Somi and her husband choose to surrender under the government’s Surrender Policy and begin the draining bureaucratic process of integrating into a hostile and unwelcoming Indian society. Through thoughtfully executed vignettes and with intimate access to Somi and her family, directors Arya Rothe, Cristina Hanes, and Isabella Rinaldi of the NoCut Film Collective construct a moving verité portrait of an ex-Naxalite family seeking a future for their children while being held hostage to the whims of a rigid and unforgiving contemporary Indian State.

– Mariam Zaidi