A documentary chronicling India’s 2020–21 farmers’ protest has been pulled from the lineup of the inaugural India Doc Fest after the Modi government denied permission for its public screening.
Nishtha Jain’s Farming the Revolution (2024), which traces the 16-month-long movement against the now-repealed farm laws, and Sareen Hairabedian’s My Sweet Land (2024) were both withdrawn by organisers following the government’s refusal to grant clearance for exhibition.
Announcing the decision on Instagram, India Doc Project — the independent collective behind the festival — issued a statement through its artistic director, Aditi Sharma, saying it “regrets” the outcome.
“We also recognise that such moments reflect the times we live in — times that make the act of documenting, witnessing and viewing all the more urgent,” the statement read. “The very absence of these films is a reminder of why spaces like Doc Fest must exist: to uphold dialogue, dissent and the freedom to see and be seen.”
Farming the Revolution, which premiered at Hot Docs 2024 and won the Best International Feature Documentary award there, captures the spirit and struggle of the farmers’ agitation that had drawn global attention. Jain’s film has been widely praised for its empathetic, ground-level portrayal of one of India’s largest mass movements in recent decades.
The other withdrawn film, My Sweet Land, follows an 11-year-old boy in the conflict-ridden Armenian enclave of Artsakh. The film had earlier been dropped by Jordan as its official Oscar entry amid diplomatic pressure from Azerbaijan.
The first-ever India Doc Fest, scheduled from October 26 to 28 in New Delhi, will continue with other titles, including Mic Drop (dir. Kallol Mukherjee) and Bass Boss (dir. Rana Ghose), alongside live performances and panel discussions featuring artists such as rapper Pasha and Kashmiri singer-songwriter Ali Saffudin.
Despite the setback, organisers say the festival’s mission remains unchanged — to provide a platform for documentaries that challenge, question and reflect the times we live in.
