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đŸŽ„INALCO India in pictures and debate: rural India in times of pandemic – Film screening of “One Side of the Road”

One Side of the Road was screened on April 9, 2025 at Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO), as part of Session 6 – India in pictures and debate: rural India in times of pandemic. A debate followed the screening, featuring Anne Viguier, historian specializing in South India (Inalco-CESSMA) and CĂ©cile Mouchel (CESSMA), in the presence of director Jalil Nordman (IRD, LEDa-DIAL).

Synopsis: A road runs through a village in Tamil Nadu in southern India. This road is a frontier that divides habitats, and it is a gateway to a wider world, the nearby industrial city, a means of possible empowerment for some, but the enslavement of others by the spatial segregation of castes in these rural areas of southern India. Between 2019 and 2022, four Dalits (former “untouchables”) reveal their ongoing struggle to survive: over-indebtedness, poor working conditions in the sugar cane fields and brick factories, domestic and social violence, discrimination and political unrest. These four characters from the same village, with their intertwined destinies, describe their daily lives through intimate and rare testimonies, which form a life journey around three extraordinary years marked by an international pandemic and its harsh economic and social consequences in rural India. Fragile lives on one side, the road appears as a partition of territory that empowers, separates and brings together all at once.

The film has recently received the Best Documentary Award at the India International Film Festival of Boston (13-15 September 2024) and the Monthly Award in Best Documentary section at the India Independent Film Festival 2025 (January 2025).


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
feodordesplanques (April 21, 2025). đŸŽ„INALCO India in pictures and debate: rural India in times of pandemic – Film screening of “One Side of the Road”. ODRIIS. Retrieved December 7, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/13s38


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