COURT

"An impressive debut that flays alive India's judicial system … an engrossing piece of cinema." – Variety

When a sewerage worker is found dead, an activist poet – a member of the Dalit (Untouchables) – is accused of having incited his suicide. The ensuing court case pits him against a judicial system worn down by outdated statutes and excessively legalistic interpretations; an arm wrestle between justice and bureaucracy.

In Court, Chaitanya Tamhane presents a searing critique of inequality in Indian society for which he received both the Orizzonti Award for Best Film and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Venice Film Festival, as well as Best Film at India's National Film Awards. Interspersing the everyday courtroom procedures – sometimes mundane, sometimes comically absurd, often gripping – with detours into the private lives of the prosecutor, defence counsel and judge, Tamhane has composed a rigorously intelligent, deeply humanistic work of cinema.

"A startlingly clear-eyed and multifaceted vision." – Slant