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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Red Ant Dream
| native_name = {{lang-hi|माटी के लाल}}
| image = Red Ant Dream.jpg
| caption = Red Ant Dream
| director = [[Sanjay Kak]]
| writer = [[Sanjay Kak]]<br />Tarun Bhartiya
| cinematography = [[Sanjay Kak]]<br />Ranjan Palit<br />Setu Pandey
| editing = Tarun Bhartiya
| music = Word Sound Power / Delhi Sultanate & Chris McGuiness
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2013|05|08}}
| runtime = 120 minutes
| country = India
| language = [[Gondi language|Gondi]], [[Oriya language|Oriya]], [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]
}}
'''''Red Ant Dream''''' (Hindi: माटी के लाल) is a 2013 documentary film directed by [[Sanjay Kak]].<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://filmsdivision.org/the-fd-zone/films-on-democracy-and-revolution.html |title=Red Ant Dream |publisher=Films Division |date=2013-06-15 |accessdate=2013-07-31 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007014721/http://filmsdivision.org/the-fd-zone/films-on-democracy-and-revolution.html |archivedate=7 October 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> This documentary is based on the revolutionary [[Maoism in India|Maoist movement in India]]. The documentary has been screened in various cities in India since 8 May 2013. It follows the [[Maoist Communist Centre of India|Maoist protests]] and ambushes which feature the circumstances and environments of the [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoists]]. It sheds light on what goes on with the [[Maoists in India|Maoists]], what they are fighting for where they have been mistreated by the government.

The movement is based on [[Martyr|martyrs:]] [[Bhagat Singh]] and [[Pash|Avtar Sandu Singh "Pash"]] who are the faces for the [[Maoism in India|Maoist movement in India]]. The film follows all parts of India where the Maoist movement exists and discusses the problems that they face such as: harsh living conditions and being on constant look out for [[Law enforcement in India|Police in India]]. The documentary has a focus on the types of protests that the [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoists]] hold like singing, marching and chanting together.

The documentary covers how [[Guerrilla warfare|guerilla warfare]] is a necessary tactic that has “made it impossible for them to be targeted". There is also no other way to defend themselves from [[Operation Green Hunt]], which was an operation put in place by the [[Government of India|Indian Government]] to eradicate the [[Maoism|Maoists]]. The [[Operation Green Hunt|operation]] included 4000 Police Officers led by around 600 elite commanders of the Anti-Naxal Cobra Force which is the biggest ever counter-revolutionary operation.<ref name=":0" />

== Synopsis ==
This documentary deals with the issue of "[[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Maoist insurgency in India]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2013/dmello140513.html |title=Bernard D'Mello, "On a Long March: Sanjay Kak's Red Ant Dream" |publisher=Mrzine.monthlyreview.org |date= |accessdate=2013-07-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thevoxkashmir.com/2013/07/06/red-ant-dream-kaks-cinema-of-resistance/ |title=Red Ant Dream: Kak's cinema of Resistance – The Vox Kashmir |publisher=Thevoxkashmir.com |date=2013-07-06 |accessdate=2013-07-31}}</ref> It focuses on the Maoists in [[Bastar district|Bastar]] in [[Chhattisgarh]], tribals fighting against industrialists in [[Niyamgiri]] in [[Odisha]] and protestors acting in memory of the Leftist revolutionary [[Bhagat Singh]] in [[Punjab]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sanhati.com/excerpted/6998/ |title=Red Ant Dream – A review at Sanhati |publisher=Sanhati.com |date= |accessdate=2013-07-31}}</ref> This film depicts the people of these regions resisting oppression.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tehelka.com/you-say-you-want-a-revolution/ |title=You Say You Want a Revolution |publisher=Tehelka.com |date=2013-05-11 |accessdate=2013-07-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Chunk-HT-UI-EntertainmentSectionPage-Movies/The-revolutionary-ideal-persists-in-India-Sanjay-Kak/Article1-1058157.aspx |title=The revolutionary ideal persists in India: Sanjay Kak |publisher=Hindustan Times |date=2013-05-10 |accessdate=2013-07-31 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512184903/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Chunk-HT-UI-EntertainmentSectionPage-Movies/The-revolutionary-ideal-persists-in-India-Sanjay-Kak/Article1-1058157.aspx |archivedate=12 May 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://caravanmagazine.in/arts/long-march |title=A Long March: Sanjay Kak's cinema of rebellion |publisher=The Caravan |date=2013-07-01 |accessdate=2013-08-01}}</ref>

The Movie begins by explaining what the catalyst was for the explosion of the [[Maoists in India|Maoist movement in India]] which was the killing of [[Bhagat Singh]] who was an Indian Revolutionary in the 1930s when [[British Raj|India was Imperialized by the British]], and the killing of [[Pash]], who was a Revolutionary poet. The [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Naxalites]] look to them as [[martyr]]s and try to finish what they started by continuing the Revolution. They have been called [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Naxalites]] ever since the armed uprising that had flared in [[Naxalbari|Naxalbari, Bengal]]. The first part of the film reveals how the [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoists]] protest by showing the slogans they chant and different rally's where the leaders inspire the [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoist]] crowds.

The film then moves into how the [[Government of India|Indian government]] treats the [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoists]]. According to the film, the Prime Minister of India, [[Manmohan Singh]], strongly opposed the [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoist movement]] labeling them as terrorists and making them his number one priority. [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|The Maoists]] believe that the only real terror is State terror. The Government complains about the Maoists, but the Maoists believe the fight is for survival, everybody's survival. The film claims that there have been cases where the Government has labeled criminals not associated with [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoists]] as [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoists]], in order to make them look worse to the general public.

The next part of the film depicts the life of the [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Naxalites]] and how they survive by living in the forests. Making it clear that at this point they are fighting for survival as Capitalist companies are devastating the forests and scheming the system in order to pay the workers less than the official rate that the Companies list, effectively leaving the workers helpless. The [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoists]] fear that the Earth will be taken by Capitalist countries trying to make more money and will eventually leave the [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Naxalites]] without a home. As the movie progresses it shows the [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoist]] [[guerrilla warfare]] tactics: the soldiers are seen training in the forest because that is the only safe way for them to train and also the most realistic for how they fight against the government.

[[Sanjay Kak|Kak]] then moves into footage and interviews he found with Police officers recounting details of Maoist attacks as well as victims and their families telling stories of how they or a loved one was treated by the government, throughout the next 20 minutes of the documentary. The Police officers believe that the [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Naxalites]] have misled the people, trained them and in order to stop the Revolutionaries they need to turn the people on the [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoists]]. In the next interview a woman whose husband was brutally murdered recounts the scene when he was killed. She describes him as unarmed and surrounded by police, they proceeded to beat him up, attack him with axes and knives, chop off his limbs and take his child who they have not seen since. The end of this part of the documentary shows Maoist footage of 12 police officers attacking the [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Naxalites]] where the [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Naxalites]] let the remaining 3 police officers surrender and go home instead of killing them.

The last part of the film starts off by focusing on the people who died fighting for the cause, and the [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Naxalites]] telling their story to get people to try to join the fight against the government. Since it's the end of the film [[Sanjay Kak|Kak]] ties it all together by reiterating the reasons the Maoists are fighting. [[The Indian government]] is allowing Capitalist companies to mine and start other special projects which lead to the displacement of the tribes and the destruction of their way of life. The [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoists]] stress that most of the demands of the [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Naxalites]] fall within the [[Constitution of India|Indian Constitution]], but due to the mistreatment of the people the [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoists]] have become cynical of the Indian Constitution, hearkening to a poem written by [[Pash]] where he declares that the [[Constitution of India|Indian Constitution]] is dead and not worth reading. The [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|Maoists]] say that the [[Indian government]] is responsible for all of the violence occurring in [[India]] because the more intense and extensive havoc created by the government such as killing, torturing and raping will breed the intense resistance of the armed minorities. In the film [[Sanjay Kak|Kak]] includes an audio of the police getting an order to seek out any possible [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Naxalites]] and to kill any journalists that come to cover them. He is trying to reiterate how little the government cares about the people. The documentary ends with the people marching together and kids training to join the fight, practicing to shoot in the forests.<ref name=":0" />

== Production ==
[[File:Sanjay Kak.jpg|thumb|Sanjay Kak(director of Red Ant Dream)|alt=]][[Sanjay Kak]] is an independent Indian filmmaker who has made other documentaries such as [[Jashn-e-Azadi]], [[Words on Water]] which won Best Long Film prize at the International Festival of Environmental Film & Video, Brazil, and [[In the Forests Hangs a Bridge]] which won Golden Lotus Best Documentary Film National Film Awards; Asian Gaze Award, Pusan Short Film Festival, Korea.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://shc.stanford.edu/events/red-ant-dream-life-revolutionary-possibility-india-film-screening-and-discussion-director|title=Red Ant Dream: The Life of Revolutionary Possibility in India, Film Screening and Discussion with Director Sanjay Kak|date=November 11, 2019|website=Stanford Humanities Center|url-status=live|access-date=November 11, 2019}}</ref>

In an interview with [[Red Pepper (magazine)|Red Pepper]], [[Sanjay Kak|Kak]] talks about why he chose [[India]] as his subject for his documentary, saying "In [[India]], the legacy of [[Mahatma Gandhi|Gandhi]] has been conveniently deployed by all sorts of political formations to delegitimise any kind of radical challenge to the form of the state. As if the inherent nature of [[Indian society]] is 'non-violent', and vegetarian to boot! Whereas the truth is that this is a society constructed on the violence of the caste system. And this is a system that has frequently reinvented itself with the passage of time, in order to fit newer forms of social and political mobilisation." He sees himself as a political filmmaker who tries to capture beauty in complex and disturbing areas of the world. He describes "the struggle is always to find a language in film that is appropriate to one’s politics" while also trying to persuade his viewers with his own political understanding. A staple of [[Sanjay Kak|Kak's]] films is his use of poetry in order to connect [[India|India's]] past to its present noting that [[India]] has a very rich history of poetry in relation with resistance and it helps him to emphasize the sentiments of his subjects in his films. He is not specifically focused on the people in the margins, but notes that he focuses on the people that he is "most excited, energised and renewed by" which continues to draw him back into the theme of [[Resistance movement|resistance]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.redpepper.org.uk/real-stories-with-real-people-the-films-of-sanjay-kak/|title=Real stories with real people: the films of Sanjay Kak|last=Pandya|first=Dipesh|date=September 7, 2017|website=Red Pepper|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 18, 2019}}</ref>

[[File:Busan International Short Film Festival.jpg|thumb|312x312px|Busan International Film Festival 2018]]
''Red Ant Dream'' was financed by funds given by an [[International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam]] Fund grant and a prize from the [[Busan International Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.idfa.nl/industry/tags/project.aspx?id=c5151636-29f3-4202-b381-bc82200e2d7a|title=Red Ant Dream | IDFA 2013|date=|publisher=Idfa.nl|accessdate=2013-07-31}}</ref>

During the [[Busan International Film Festival]] [[Asian Cinema Fund|the Asian Cinema Fund]] provides filmmakers the opportunity to share their work with one another giving them a "pan-Asian network" which gives the filmmakers the ability to establish their films and "position themselves as important parts of the film industry". Their goal is to be able to show high quality Asian films around the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://acf.biff.kr/eng/addon/10000001/page.asp?page_num=1430|title=ACF,Springboard to New Asian Cinema|website=Asian Cinema Fund|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref>

==Reviews==
The film has been well-received by critics.

[[Sheikh Saaliq]], editor of ''[[The Vox Kashmir]]'', in one of his reviews in ''[[The Express Tribune]]'' said, "This film is a saga of heroism and sacrifice in the face of a brutal enemy camouflaged as the world’s “largest democracy”. Red Ant Dream is a moving meditation."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/18183/red-ant-dream-a-documentary-about-kashmir-india-and-freedom/ |title=Red Ant Dream: A documentary about Kashmir, India and freedom – The Express Tribune Blog |website=blogs.tribune.com.pk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820083809/http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/18183/red-ant-dream-a-documentary-about-kashmir-india-and-freedom/ |archive-date=2013-08-20}} </ref>

[[Tansuhree Bhasin]],writer for [[The Sunday Guardian|Sunday Guardian]], in his review of Red Ant Dream, said "In a sense ''Red Ant Dream'' gives a face to what the state calls the 'greatest internal security threat' to the country". He notes how [[Sanjay Kak|Kak]] has been outspoken about the [[India|Indian state's]] oppressive [[Regime]] and it's "dodgy affair with capitalism and foreign investment"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sunday-guardian.com/artbeat/the-deaf-state-depletes-trust-and-the-people-must-respond|title=The deaf state depletes trust, and the people must respond|last=Bhasin|first=Tanushree|date=May 4, 2013|website=Sunday-Guardian|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref>

== References ==

{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://redantdream.com}}
* {{IMDb title|3122666|Red Ant Dream}}

__FORCETOC__

[[Category:Indian documentary films]]
[[Category:Films about Naxalism]]
[[Category:Documentary films about politics]]
[[Category:2013 films]]
[[Category:2013 documentary films]]

Red Ant Dream - Revision history

Bot: robot: Create/update articles. If there is a mistake please report on my talk page.