In 2016, Indian student Rohith Vemula took his own life and left a letter denouncing the oppression he was suffering from the university administration because he was a dalit - a term that designates a citizen without a caste. His death sparked a series of protests, many violently repressed by the state, such as a candlelight vigil led by Rohith's mother, Radhika Vemula, and attended by students from all over the country. All the participants were arrested by the police and taken to nearby police stations in the city's public transport vehicles, marked "00 Special Service".
In "Special Service", ujjwal kanishka utkarsh takes up the tragic event. The atmosphere and narrative he creates, by filming a candle burning from start to finish, places the viewer inside the vigil and in the context of repression surrounding the event, whose sounds and speeches we hear in the background.
Interviews
Image and sound: B Paolucci and Julia Gil
Editing: B Paolucci and Julia Gil
Recording of the works
Image: Helena Wolfenson, Marcos Yoshi and Tom Butcher Cury
Sound: Tomás Franco
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