LGBT+ and women’s rights activist Ailbhe Smyth will be speaking at the post-screening discussion of No Easy Walk to Freedom as part of the Wexford Documentary Film Festival.

The film documents the violations of human rights that has been perpetrated in India with the reintroduction of Section 377 of India’s penal code in 2013 which criminalises same-sex relationships.

“After the victory of Marriage Equality in Ireland in this film we are reminded that LGBT struggle is still very real in other countries and in No Easy Walk to Freedom we witness this struggle in India,” the film festival wrote.

“It focuses around the archaic Section 377 of India’s penal code from the old British colonial law of 1861( which “criminalises carnal knowledge against the order of nature”) criminalising same-sex relationships.

“It had been struck out in 2009 after the Naz Foundation, a HIV/AIDS non-government organisation filed a case against it. However in 2013 after increasing conservatism, the Supreme Court of India set aside this win of 2009 and re-criminalised LGBT people in India. It was justified by the Courts by arguing that homosexuality is contrary to ‘Indian culture and represents western values’.

No Easy Walk to Freedom will be screened for free on Saturday, September 23 at 1pm and will be followed by a discussion with Ailbhe Smyth.

Check out the film’s moving trailer here.

Ones To Watch

The Wexford Documentary Film Festival runs this weekend from September 22-24, with a range of over thirty free screenings running from Friday through Sunday.

“This September sees the much-anticipated return of The 5th Wexford Documentary Film Festival, a jam-packed 3-day festival of international, national, and local films,” the festival organisers said in a press release.

“The festival takes place in the picturesque fishing village of Kilmore Quay, County Wexford from Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th September 2017. Screening of films will be in the local Stella Maris Centre, and in many interesting and unexpected off-site venues throughout the village.”

The opening night film We The Workers, documents the “precarious conditions” of some workers in China and the fight for workers’ rights.

This film will be screened in Chinese with English subtitles at 6:3opm and there will be a post-screening discussion at 9:30pm with Huang Wenhai, the director of the documentary, Jimmy Kelly of Unite the union, and Gino Kenny TD, Poeple Before Profit.

In the verdant village of Kells, Ireland there’s an antidote to the dark time we live in

The closing night film School Life (In Loco Parentis), directed by Neasa Ní Chianáin and David Rane, explores the only boarding school in Ireland for primary school aged children, Headfort.

At Headfort, “a school not unlike Hogwarts with its 18th century buildings, secret doors and magical woodlands” two “inspirational teachers” brighten up the lives of their pupils.

Sundance had this to say about School Life: “In the verdant village of Kells, Ireland there’s an antidote to the dark time we live in – a worn and wearthered boarding school with a special magic.”

The full festival programme is available here and tickets can be reserved on Eventbrite.

Wexford Documentary Film Festival runs from September 22 to 24 in Kilmore Quay, Wexford.