Film Forum

In a small village in Jharkhand, India, 2017, a farmer becomes embroiled in conflict when he and his wife report to the police a horrific crime — after a family wedding, three village men dragged their 13-year-old daughter into the woods and sexually assaulted her. Village leaders launch a campaign not for justice but for the father to drop charges and marry his daughter off to one of her arrested rapists — an “honorable” solution to preserve the community’s dignity. With intimate access to both father and daughter through the ordeal (emotional, legal, financial), along with candid interviews with neighbors, the village ward, and NGO activists, Nisha Pahuja reveals a riveting story of one family’s inspiring, courageous battle, and the survival instincts of a society entrenched in toxic patriarchy.  

Executive Producers: Dev Patel, Mindy Kaling, Andy Cohen, Anita Lee, Atul Gawande,
Andrew Dragoumis, Shivani Rawat, Rupi Kaur, Deepa Mehta, Samarth Sahni, Anita Bhatia,
Priya Doraswamy, Niraj Bhatia & Nisha Pahuja
Producers: Cornelia Principe, David Oppenheim & Nisha Pahuja

Presented with support from the Richard Brick, Geri Ashur, and Sara Bershtel Fund for Social Justice Documentaries

2022     127 MIN.     CANADA / INDIA      IN HINDI WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES     
NOTICE PICTURES / NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA

Reviews

“A-. INCISIVE. A powerful, infuriating document of a family’s resilience in the face of massive communal pressure and to the notion that these types of small, necessary shifts can add up.”
– Christian Gallichio, The Playlist

CRITIC’S PICK. “Unflinching. A film bristling with such invigorating defiance… The film lays bare the uneasy and inadequate avenues available to survivors seeking justice…. But in staying close to Kiran’s father, who refuses to let his daughter bow her head, and to the girl, who speaks with hope and flinty confidence, one thing is clear: The revolution begins at home.”
– Devika Girish, The New York Times
Read the full review.

“Immerses the viewer in rural India — and questions the societal mentality which condones and enables sexual assault…Throughout TO KILL A TIGER, Ranjit and his family stand as shining, noteworthy examples — people who did not have to be told or taught that what these men did to their daughter was wrong, but stood unquestioningly by her side when she spoke up and fought back. Through this, TO KILL A TIGER achieves its most impressive feat; despite the inescapably heavy subject matter, the film focuses on hope and action — without ever diminishing the gravity of what happened to Ranjit’s daughter. The audience sits not in pain and atrocity, but in incremental change, witnessing over the course of two hours that it is absolutely possible.”
– Proma Khosla, IndieWire

“A powerful portrait of a family’s strength. A masterfully observant film, in which one family’s fight for justice becomes a larger parable about a pressing human rights issue.”
– Pat Mullen, POV Magazine

“Empowering… daringly interrogates age-old customs in favor of human rights, questioning the very basis of fairness in a modernizing country.”
– Grace Han, Asian Movie Pulse

“Wrenching, powerful, timely, and insightful… one of the best investigations into the nature of toxic masculinity and rape culture in modern Indian society. Sharp editing and highly intuitive and detailed cinematography help to make TO KILL A TIGER into one of those documentaries that approaches the emotional heights of grand, unforced human drama.”
– Andrew Parker, The Gate