Indian documentary 'Writing with Fire' wins award at Sundance Film Festival

Indian film Writing with Fire, chronicling the rise of Khabar Lahariya, India's only newspaper run by Dalit women, has won the audience award in the World Cinema Documentary category at the Sundance Film Festival 2021.

The festival, which started from January 28 and will close on February 3, is presented by Sundance Organisation, a nonprofit that discovers and supports independent artists and introduces audiences to their work.

According to the film gala's official website, the virtual award ceremony was remotely hosted by actor-comic Patton Oswalt on Tuesday night.

Writing with Fire, which also marks the feature debut of directors Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, follows this ambitious group of Dalit women -- led by their chief reporter, Meera -- as the team switches from print to digital in order to stay relevant.

Armed with smartphones and the courage and conviction one must be born with, they investigate the incompetence of the local police force, listen to and stand by victims of caste and gender violence, and challenge long-standing, harmful practices that lead to injustice and intimidation.

Also edited and produced by Thomas and Ghosh, the film won the special jury award: impact for change in the World Cinema Documentary category as well.

Writing with Fire premiered in the World Cinema Documentary Competition segment, which celebrates 10 non-fiction feature films from emerging talent around the world showcases some of the most courageous and extraordinary filmmaking today.

Fire in the Mountains, directed by debutant Ajitpal Singh, was another Indian title to be screened at the festival. The family drama, revolving around a mother who toils to save money to build a road in a remote Himalayan village to take her wheelchair-bound son for physiotherapy but her husband believes that a shamanic ritual (Jagar) is the remedy, premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition segment.

Previously, Indian titles such as Prashant Nair's Umrika (audience award winner in 2015), Shonali Bose's Margarita With A Straw, Neeraj Ghaywan's Masaan, and Ritesh Batra's The Lunchbox have received support from Sundance.

The biggest winner at the 2021 edition of the Sundance Film Festival was CODA with four prizes in the US Dramatic Competition category: the grand jury prize, the directing prize, the audience award, and a special jury prize for best ensemble.

Directed by Sian Heder, CODA is a family drama centered on a high school student who is the child of deaf adults.

It is the first film in Sundance history to win all three top prizes in the US Dramatic category.