Film Festival on Ecology & Social Justice
2-4 September; 10 am to 5 pm
English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad
Curated by Amudhan RP
Schedule
2 September
10 am to 1 pm
10 am Inauguration
10.30 am
Colony in Conflict
Dir: Rajani Mani; 73 min; India
“Colonies in Conflict” is a feature length documentary that examines the state of wild bees in a fast-developing Indian landscape. In a first ever, migratory honeybee species Apis dorsata (Rockbees, giant Asian honeybees) – native to south Asia – have been filmed extensively over various landscapes to find out how big a negative impact people have had on insect populations.
Other Kohinoors
Dir: Uma Magal; 48 min; India
A documentary love letter to the rocks of Hyderabad, celebrating their infusion in the areas cultural imagination, calling to retain the rocks that remain. The hope is growing with the outreach happening with this film, that showcasing the respect and affection with which the culture treats the environment & landscape will reignite that connection to the landscape today.
2 pm
Besetzt - Lobau Bleibt (not yet approved)
Dir : Gerald Baumann, Aron Ebner, Matteo Molina; 30 min; Austria
The 30min cinema verite documentary is about climate activists that occupied several construction sites in Vienna, Austria for almost a year to stop the construction of two highways, crossing the nature reserve Lobau.
The documentary gives an unfiltered view on how the daily life of an activist looks like and what few individuals can achieve in an extreme situation like an occupation.
The Illusion of Abundance
Dir : Erika Gonzalez Ramirez, Matthieu Lietaert; 60 min; Colombia
Despite a deeply unbalanced game, Maxima, Bertha and Carolina share a common goal: they are leading today's environmental fight against modern corporate conquistadors. Whereas governments and corporations are trapped in a global race to get the cheapest raw materials, these three women tell us a story of tireless courage: how to keep fighting to protect nature when your life is at risk? When police repression, corporate harassment, injuries or even death threats are part of your daily routine? (60’)
Mekong Apocalyse (55’)
Dir: Michael Buckley; 55 min; Canada / China / Cambodia / Vietnam
Mekong Apocalypse' explores the devastating downstream impact of China's megadams in Cambodia's Lake Tonle Sap and Vietnam's Mekong Delta. The filmmaker shot this on the run, getting undercover footage of megadams and illegal sand-dredging. Drawing inspiration from water puppetry theatre in Vietnam, this film features characters like a talking glacier in Tibet, waltzing fish in Laos, and a talking sunflower in Vietnam to get complex concepts across. With this slapstick approach, the film does tend to meander--like the Mekong herself. With its sly nod to Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now,' this is a documentary with strong elements of a mockumentary.
3 September
10 am
Echelon Threads (not yet approved)
Dir : Achin Phulre’ 17 min; India
Experience life on the rugged Changthang plateau, where each day is a symphony of tradition and survival. Witness as dawn unveils the delicate art of combing pashmina wool from goats, followed by men guiding herds to graze at 5400m. Women masterfully weave sheep wool into carpets and garments. Pashmina, sold to co-ops and buyers, carries dreams. Amidst breathtaking altitudes, resilience, and rich meals, this documentary paints a vivid portrait of a timeless community crafting its destiny.
The Leopard’s Tribe
Dir: Miriam Chandy Menacherry; 38 min; India
Mumbai authorities axe thousands of trees to expand a mass transit system. Home to 10,000 indigenous tribals led by Prakash Bhoir a scuffle unfolds to protect forest and the leopard they worship. A battle to save the green lungs of India’s financial capital unfolds. He joins a hip-hop band, gets legal counsel but it is Pramila, his wife who is his biggest ally. She surprises everyone by stepping into the frontlines of a battle with high political stakes. This is the story of a marginalised couple, forced to be leaders through floods, fires and leopard attacks to claim their position as climate leaders in one of the fastest growing metropolis in the world.
Hailstorm
Dir: Shobhit Jain; 60 min; India
A freak hailstorm sets off a series of events in the life of farmers unfolding the vulnerability and precarious situation of those on the margin.
Coral Woman
Dir : Priya thuvassery; 53 min; India
The Filmmaker's journey with Uma, a certified scuba diver, exploring the underwater world and the threat to the coral reefs of the Gulf of Mannar. Born in a traditional family, inspired by the beauty of the corals, Uma learnt how to swim, dive and paint in her 50s, and has since been trying to bring attention to this alarming environmental crisis through her paintings.
2 pm
Unhusk (not yet approved)
Dir : Jue Wang; 57 min; China
A decade after her photos spotlighted China’s rice farming traditions, a photographer returns to document vanishing lifeways. As landscapes and villages empty, who will grow the rice now? This lyrical requiem explores how once-thriving cultural heritage erodes when communities disperse and young inheritors dwindle.
The Custodians of the Andean Gold (32’)
Dir : Marcella Menozzi; 32 min; Italy / Peru / Bolivia
In the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes, more than 3 800 meters above sea level, live alpaca and vicunia breeders. Quechua and Aymara families protect their animals live off of the sale of the animals’ fiber. Gold mining is another activity that predates the Conquest and is widespread among families living in the border area between Peru and Bolivia. The difficult compatibility on the same territory of these two production activities increases the need for environmental protection and workers' rights. It has become indispensable to support producers so that this activity does not disappear with the migration of native peoples, abandoning traditions and animals.
Blue Crab (and a wooden camera) (not yet approved)
Dir : Daniel Martínz-Quintanilla Pérez; 22 min; Peru / Venezuela
Daniel Martínez and the award-winning photojournalist Rodrigo Abd traveled in August of 2019 to Cabimas, on the shore of Maracaibo lake in Venezuela. The aim was to take a series of portraits with an old wooden camera. What they found was an apocalyptic situation: oil leaking from hundreds of oil towers abandoned by the PDVSA company, black dyeing the lake and the fishermen, and no one able to prevent it.
Mentawai - souls of the forest
Dir: Joo Peter; 75 min; Indonesia
The last indigenous people of Mentawai, a small archipelago south-west of Sumatra, are fighting with creative resistance to preserve their ancient culture and rainforest.
4 September
10 am
Things will be different
Dir: Lucie McMahon; 65 min; Australia
Things Will Be Different documents two neighbours’ experiences of displacement as they are forced to relocate from the Walker Street public housing estate in Northcote, Melbourne when it is sold for private redevelopment. The film explores the impact of losing one’s home and the important role public housing plays in our communities. The film is made by local filmmakers Celeste De Clario Davis and Lucie McMahon.
Africa, the cradle of mankind (not yet approved)
Dir: Benita Jacques; 108 min; Canada / Senegal
For a long time, Benita Jacques has always had questions about her origins to which she never got any answers from her parents. Today, the young mother from Montreal wants to bring answers to her children who ask her the same questions that she herself could not have. So, she decided to leave for Africa, in search of her origins
2 pm
Jamnapaar (not yet approved)
Dir: Abhinava Bhattacharya; 24 min; India
The film lurks on the river’s edge seeking to explore how the inhabitants of the Yamuna relate to its degraded presence, the fragile nostalgia of its unknowable past and the horror of its unthinkable future.
Tribal Scoop
Dir: Beeswaranjan; 52 min; India
A small town of Sundergarh lying in the interiors of the state of Odisha has never been touched by modern civilization, but is paying for it with the blood of the tribal people who still depend on forests for survival. And even those forests are fast being uprooted to make way for urban life. In the midst of this cockpit of destruction there's one hope that they are desperately clinging on to- Hockey. The game that was once the only form of entertainment for a people cut off from the rest of the world has now become a weapon with which Sundergarh is trying to claim it's place in a world that never recognized it.
If She Built a Country (not yet approved)
Dir: Maheen Mirza; 60 min; India
Rural, Adivasi women from the villages of Chhattisgarh critique the grand plan of development of the country. As mines and power plants appear and grow in monstrous proportions around them, many of them have been cheated of their land and compensation. As they grapple with all this, they seek justice for themselves and their communities and share their thoughts about how the development of a country should be.
4.30 pm : Feedback and closing remarks.
