India’s ‘Writing with Fire’ missed the Oscars win!

At the 2022 Oscars, Delhi-based filmmaker duo Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh-directed ‘Writing with Fire’ lost out the Best Documentary Feature honor to ‘Summer of Soul.

The documentary captures ‘Khabar Lahariya’s’ switch from print to digital in recent years. It follows how the newspaper’s Chief reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, redefining what it means to be powerful by reporting India’s biggest issues and within the confines of their own homes, questioning notions of patriarchy and redefining power, investigating local police-force incompetence, listening in and standing by victims of caste and gender violence.

Produced under Ghosh and Thomas' Black Ticket Films banner, the film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, where it won two awards, the Audience Award and a Special Jury Award in the World Cinema Documentary category. It received unanimous acclaim from film festivals and critics, winning several international awards and critical acclaim from the press. It was named a "Critics Pick" by The New York Times, and Jason Rezaian at The Washington Post called it "the most inspiring journalism movie — maybe ever"

On the other hand, the ‘Summer of Soul’ documentary examines the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which was held at Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) in Harlem and lasted for six weeks. The festival was seen as obscure in pop culture, something that the documentarians investigate.