Indian documentary feature ‘Writing With Fire’ nominated for Oscars

‘Writing With Fire’, has become the first Indian documentary feature to get an Oscar nomination. Directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, ‘Writing With Fire’ documents the inspiring story of ‘Khabar Lehriya’, a vibrant community newspaper in multiple dialects — Bundeli, Avadhi and Bajjika — run by women from marginalised communities in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district and UP’s Banda district.

Supported by the Sundance Institute, the documentary was shot over five years, following the paths of the newspaper’s chief reporter and the crime reporter as they negotiate what can at times be a difficult and dangerous world for women like them. The story of the citizen journalists who run ‘Khabar Lehriya’ and have overseen its makeover from print to digital has been greeted with high praise by just about every film trade magazine in the United States.