Oscar Nominated Documentary 'Writing With Fire' Focuses on Challenges Faced by Dalit Women Journalists

By: WE Staff | Monday, 31 January 2022

Last year, Collective was nominated for an OscarAward for documenting the work of brave Romanian investigative journalists. One of the feature documentaries nominated for an Oscar Award this year focuses on another group of crusading journalists: the staff of Khabar Lahariya, India's only female-run newspaper.

Writing With Fire, directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, looks at the enormous challenges Khabar Lahariya has had to overcome in order to stay in business and hold the powerful accountable. Women on the staff face sexism from officials and ordinary people they interview, as well as from within their own families in many cases.

Another reason the odds were stacked against Khabar Lahariya was that it was founded by Dalit women, members of India's lowest caste. The women, however, did not give up – "Instead, they stirred a revolution," according to the film.

Thomas and Ghosh said, “Writing With Fire began with a simple photo that we saw online of a Dalit woman reporter from Khabar Lahariya in a sea of male onlookers. It was a powerful image that led to us asking ourselves: What is journalism? Who counts as newsworthy? Which stories should we be telling?”

In 2002, Khabar Lahariya, which means "waves of news," was founded. Thomas and Ghosh began filming during a difficult period in the newspaper's history, as it transitioned from print to digital. For many of the employees, this meant a steep hill to climb.

The directors underlined, “the very first footage [in the documentary] we shot was in the attic of a small office in rural India where women from the most marginalized community were scripting a new course for the newspaper they run. Most women in the room had never touched a smartphone, but they had the gumption to dream of making their newspaper a digital force.”

KL's YouTube channel went from zero to over 150 million views in just a few years. Writing With Fire shows how the news organization's reporting has a real-world impact, such as prompting police to investigate crimes and encouraging government officials to carry out promised improvements for impoverished communities.

Thomas and Ghosh remarked, “the film shows the power and importance of journalism as a fourth pillar of democracy. Thanks to digital media, the KL [team] manage to bring real awareness to issues in some of the most underrepresented communities in the world, provoking conversation and delivering positive change.”

Writing With Fire has received numerous awards around the world, including Best Documentary Feature at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Nordic Docs, DocsMX in Mexico City, and a special jury prize at the Seattle International Film Festival. It was a hit with the crowds at both the IDFA festival in Amsterdam and the Sundance Film Festival last year. It also received a special jury award for Impact and Change in Park City.

The filmmakers said,  “the journey of Writing With Fire, from its Sundance premiere last where it had a double award win to being on the Academy Shortlist, has also been history in the making as India’s first ever documentary feature to achieve this. The film has played at over 100 festivals and won 28 awards, which tells us that audiences across the world love and feel inspired by the women they meet in the film. Writing With Fire is a story of our fractured times, it is as unique as it is universal.”