Directed by Rajesh S. Jala
(30 min, 2011, India)

Many Hindu widows are traditionally encouraged or forced to live for the rest of their lives in Banaras to seek Moksha – liberation from the cycle of life and death. For dying in Banaras promises Moksha. This belief continues to conquer the destinies of thousands of widows even today. These discarded widows live on to wait for their death...at the stairs.

“At the Stairs” captures lonely moments and lifeless lives of three aged widows who have been waiting for decades to die in Banaras. Ironically, they live at a paradoxical venue, Manikarnika, the busiest cremation ground, where cremations never stop. More than 100 departed souls are cremated here everyday. This film glimpses through the silence of these lonely souls living amidst the deafening sound of death rituals. The dying whispers of these widows are silenced by the incessant funeral pyres, the eternal wood hammering and Ram Naam Satya Hai (funeral recitation). At the Stairs weaves a visual narrative which juxtaposes life and death, body and soul, confinement and liberation.

Scheduled screenings at Persistence Resistance 2012
Venue: British Council Theatre
Date: February 11; 01:30 pm

Venue: India International Centre, Auditorium 1
Date: February 13; 10:00 am

World Premiere
INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Rotterdam 2011

Awards
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
- Signes de nuit, Paris 2011
- New Jersey South Asian Film Festival 2011
- Best Cinematography IDPA, 2010
- Best Editing IDPA, 2010
- Certificate of Merit for sound, IDPA, , 2010

Nominated in Competition
- KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL, POLAND 2011
- TAMPERE FILM FESTIVAL, FINLAND 2011
- Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, 2011
- FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINE DE HUESCA, Spain 2011
- IDFF, Russia 2011
- IDSFF, Kerla 2011
- Plus Cameraimage International Film Festival, Poland 2011
- MIFF, 2012

Official Selections
- Indian Panaroma, IFFI Goa 2011
- Doc Liepzig, 2011