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Kinshuk Surjan’s documentary finds hope in a support group of farmer widows
In a rural region in India, suffering from climate change and a high suicide rate amongst farmers, a group of resilient women farmers who recently lost their husbands, is coming together with a local psychologist. In this group, a young female farmer, Sanjeevani, finds the courage to overcome her grief, tackle social taboos and eventually help other distressed women farmers in a deeply patriarchal society.
In the last 20 years, over 400,000 farmers have died by suicide in India. Marching in the Dark puts a face to that statistic.
Belgian-Indian director Kinshuk Surjan’s debut documentary follows Sanjivani Bhure, a young widow in rural Maharashtra. One year after her husband took his life over crop failure and debt, she is left with two children, unpaid loans, and a place at the bottom of her brother-in-law’s household.
The film opens at a crop auction. An elderly farmer mutters: “Farmers never get what they deserve.” That one line explains the economy that broke Sanjivani’s family.
With no land rights and mounting pressure, Sanjivani risks her brother-in-law’s anger to attend a secret: an NGO support group for other “farmer-suicide widows.” At first she says nothing. Slowly, she starts speaking.
This is where Marching in the Dark comes alive. The room is filled with grief, but also anger, jokes, and strength. Women share stories of banks, bad weather, and social stigma.
“Initially cautious and reserved, Sanjivani is slowly drawn in to the healing power of community; her own grief beginning to heal as she focuses on the others instead of herself”
Shot with intimate, eye-level cinematography, Surjan avoids narration. We just watch Sanjivani farm, care for her kids, and sit in the circle. The Marathi title Andharatlya Mashali means “Flames in the Darkness” — a better fit than the English. The group is the flame.
There’s no easy ending. The debt remains. But Sanjivani changes. “Empowered by community, shared stories of resilience, and unexpected solidarity, Sanjivani cautiously forges a path forward.”
Winning a Special Mention at CPH:DOX and selected for the European Film Awards, the film is quiet, patient, and deeply human. It turns a national crisis into a story about women refusing to be invisible.
Name: Marching In The Dark
Year: 2024
Length: 105 minutes
credits:
A film by Kinshuk Surjan with Sanjeevani Bhure
Produced by Clin d’Oeil Films (Evelien de Graef, Hanne Phlypo), in co-production with SNG Film (Digna Sinke) and NoCut Film Collective (Arya Rothe)
cinematography: Leena Patoli, Carl Rottiers, Vishal Vittal
sound: Puneet Dwivedi, Imtiyaz Jumnalka
editing: Joëlle Alexis
sound design & mix: Mark Glynne, Olmo van Straalen
In co-production with VRT, VOO en Be tv, and Shelter Prod
With the support of Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, Taxshelter.be en ING, New Dawn, Netherlands Film Fund (NFF), Belgian Development Cooperation (DGD), Film and Audiovisual Center of Wallonia Brussels Federation, Creative Europe MEDIA, DMZ Docs Fund, InMaat Foundation, Pascal Decroos Fund, Stichting Filip Decock, La Scam – Brouillon d’un rêve, La Culture avec la Copie Privée, deAuteurs, RITCS, VUB
Credits source – SNG Film
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