Cinema of Resistance (COR) is a grass roots film screening collective from India that focuses on forming new cultural spaces in small towns and villages through the screening of alternate films. The collective’s journey that began in 2006 with the Gorakhpur Film Festival has been instrumental in creating new circulatory networks around such films that deal with issues including labor rights, gender justice, human rights and environmental issues. Within this network, the screening of films become a catalyst for creating discussion spaces around such issues. Cinema of Resistance festivals are a regular event in the cultural calendar of many cities and towns outside the major metropolises of India including Udaipur, Patna, Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Ramnagar and Nainital.

In this interview with Dr. Shweta Kishore, the national convenor of Cinema of Resistance, Mr.Sanjay Joshi talks about the importance of alternate cinema in building interactive spaces where ordinary people can find ways of expression that goes beyond limits of state censorship and neoliberal logic of engagement. Dr. Shweta Kishore is a lecturer of Screen and Media at RMIT, Australia. Sanjay Joshi has made several documentaries and he has so far curated over 71 film festivals and screenings for cinema of resistance.