One of Canada’s more memorable and emotionally challenging documentaries is now available for free online. This week, the National Film Board posted Toronto filmmaker Nisha Pahuja’s To Kill a Tiger on its website. It’s also available through Knowledge.ca.
It took Pahuja’s team more than three-and-a-half years to film a family’s quest for justice in the Indian state of Jharkhand. In the face of intense community opposition, a poor farmer named Ranjit refuses to give up in his efforts to gain convictions against young men who raped his 13-year-old daughter.
“As it became clear that the father wasn’t going to back down and he was going to continue this pursuit of justice, the villagers became angrier and angrier,” Pahuja told Pancouver earlier this year. “So, our presence created tension, without a doubt.”
To Kill a Tiger captured the Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary honour in a competitive field at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards. It also won Canadian Screen Awards for best editing and best original music in a feature documentary.
In addition to writing and directing, Pahuja also produced her documentary along with David Oppenheim and Cornelia Principe. Music was by Jonathan Goldsmith and the director of photography was Mrinal Desai.
Meanwhile, three major figures in film and television—Dev Patel, Mindy Kaling, and Deepa Mehta—received credits as executive producers, along with bestselling poet Rupi Kaur. Others listed as executive producers included Andy Cohen, Anita Lee, Atul Gawande, Andrew Dragoumis, Nira J. Bhatia, Anita Bhatia, Samarth Sahni, and Priya Dora Swamy.
Watch the trailer for To Kill a Tiger.
Update
On December 21, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that To Kill a Tiger had made the shortlist for the Oscar in the Documentary Feature Film category.
Follow Pancouver on Twitter @PancouverMedia and on Instagram @PancouverMedia.
