Writing with Fire

Writing With Fire
Directed by
Produced by
  • Sushmit Ghosh
  • Rintu Thomas
Cinematography
Edited by
  • Sushmit Ghosh
  • Rintu Thomas
  • Anne Fabini
    (supervising editor)
Music by
Production
company
Black Ticket Films
Distributed byMusic Box Films (United States)
Release date
  • 30 January 2021 (2021-01-30) (Sundance)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Box office₹ 16.58 lakh ($29,731)[1][2]

Writing with Fire is a 2021 Indian documentary film directed by filmmakers Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas about the journalists running the Dalit women led newspaper Khabar Lahariya, as they shift from 14-years of print to digital journalism using smartphones. It is the first Indian feature documentary to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[3]

Produced under Ghosh and Thomas' Black Ticket Films banner, the film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, where it won two awards, the Audience Award and a Special Jury Award in the World Cinema Documentary category.[4] It received unanimous acclaim from film festivals and critics, winning several international awards and critical acclaim from the press. It was named a "Critics Pick" by The New York Times,[5] and Jason Rezaian at The Washington Post called it "the most inspiring journalism movie — maybe ever".[6] In 2023, Writing With Fire won a Peabody Award for Best Documentary Film,[7][8] making Rintu and Sushmit the first Indian filmmakers in the award's 83-year history to win this recognition.

  1. ^ "Writing with Fire (2021)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  2. ^ "Writing with Fire (2021)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  3. ^ Ghosh, Tanushree (8 February 2022). "Oscar nominations 2022: Indian documentary Writing with Fire nominated in Best Documentary Feature category". The Indian Express. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  4. ^ "2021 Sundance Film Festival Awards Announced". Sundance Institute. 2 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  5. ^ Girish, Devika (25 November 2021). "Writing With Fire Review: Speaking Truth to Power". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  6. ^ Rezaian, Jason (1 February 2021). "Opinion: The most inspiring journalism movie — maybe ever". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  7. ^ "Independent Lens: Writing with Fire". The Peabody Awards. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  8. ^ "ITVS Brings Home Two Peabody Awards For Documentaries "Writing With Fire" And "Missing In Brooks County" | ITVS". itvs.org. Retrieved 14 June 2023.