The ‘roundtable’ was an attempt to acknowledge and understand the circulation and curtailment of speech in the South Asia region. The transformed nature of information flows at the cusp of the late 20th and early 21st Century has rendered inadequate national territories as exclusive sites of study or debate.  As newer technologies of production and dissemination generate an unprecedented amount of information, there are simultaneously greater demands for restrictions on speech from state, non-state and corporate players. Independent documentary filmmakers, journalists, writers and other professionals have struggled to create spaces for images, words and ideas that find little support with the governments or market-driven corporations.

The four day round table was attended by film makers, writers, activists, journalists, lawyers, and saw an active participation by media students.

An extensive report has been prepared by Smriti Vohra of Sarai-CSDS and can be downloaded from here.

Go to Delhi Film Archive