Environmental films: Should we judge films by audiences?

Three days, three hundred people and twenty-three environmental films - this is a quantitative description of the recently concluded Quotes from the Earth environment film festival held at India International Centre, in the Indian Capital - New Delhi. Toxics Link logo But there is more to it than mere numbers. Who were these individuals? What connection did they make with the issue of environment? Exploring such details promises to be a worthwhile pursuit, as ideas have magical properties. They not only change attitudes, but also silently travel far and wide through personalised narratives and become part of a much larger discourse. Merging of global and local A landfill gradually killing those living near it by leaching deadly toxins. The urban poor finding sustenance through city garbage in absence of efficient state-run systems. Impending submergence of a mangrove forest being further hastened by global warming. A unique ecosystem on the threshold extinction even before it is fully catalogued by researchers. Themes like these are not specific to any particular region or country anymore. It is in this context that the movement for environmental equity has acquired a global tinge with people across the world interacting and sharing their concerns and struggles over issues of environment. This was reflected in a nice blend of North and South, with seven foreign films being screened in the festival to showcase the worldwide inter-connect of environmental issues. "Poverty has the same defining characteristics no matter what country it is. All you have to do is to discount the setting and you would find that poorest among the urban poor are living dangerously, feeding of the waste - drawing from resources that are thrown downwards from the top of the chain. We like to call it informal recycling," said programme head of a leading NGO after watching Pretty Dyana by Boris Mitic from Serbia. The film mentioned here takes a non-judgmental and a-political look at the life of Gypsy refugees in a Belgrade suburb. They turn once-popular but antiquated car model into a trash-carrier. Engineered for magical mileage and maximum loading capacity, these vehicles have not only become the community's workhorse, but also a symbol of their struggles. Thanks to an integration of regional and national economies, resource drain cannot be seen in isolation as the global chain of demand and supply now ensures that resources from one part of the planet are now delivered to the part where the buyer is. This aspect was re-affirmed by several documentaries. Though each of them was firmly rooted in their immediate context, the underlying discourse of global power dynamics was also communicated through overt and sublime narratives. Be it the issue of the developing world or economies in transition being turned into dumping grounds in the name of recycling or the threat of depleted uranium weapons. The former issue was presented in Waste as Development Aid by Joost De Haas and the later was captured in Downwind: Depleted Uranium Weapons by Jawad Metni. Information for uninitiated; discourse for converted Films have a very individualised yet unifying way of connecting with the audience. While young students found the platform serving as a medium for initiation into the world of environmental messaging, for the activists old debates were rekindled and once again discovered. Green Cinema, big green gathering, green, festival, eco, environment, sustainable, community, hippie, summer © Gabrielle Hamm A beetle rolling out balls from a mound of dung. A crab moving across the sand hiding from predators and a bunch of playful young monkeys. All these played out along with a peppy backdrop score become an instant hit with the crowd. Students rushed out even as the titles rolled to tell their friends, who were expected but did not show up. "I did not know it can be so much fun, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves," was the response from a communication studies professor, who led a small group of enthusiastic students, following the screening of opening film Point Calimere: A little Kingdom by the Coast by Shekhar Dattari. But the message of environment was not diluted in any way by the information specific approach of some film narratives. "Genetically Modified crops as an environmental issue is often perceived as a distant concern but when you link it to what's happening to farmers in Andhra Pradesh it reflects the concern. The film on Bt-cotton was an eye opener," said a student who wanted to take this documentary Bt-Cotton in Andhra Pradesh: A 3 Year Fraud to his institute for screening. Activists and directors discussed issues ranging from narration to challenges peculiar to the medium. Some raised these issues during interactions that followed the screening, while other found space for this during tea breaks. "It is not necessary that all environmental documentaries have to talk about politics of any kind. What about the simple joy of observing silent wonders of nature? Can that not move people and make them want to think about environment. In my country documentaries are not that complicated, they are well researched but not necessarily politicised," was one of the observations made by visiting Swiss Director, Alec Wohlgroth. His film Mountains in the Mist was screened on the day one under the theme Earth. The next two days saw screening under the themes of Survival and Water. Are environmental documentaries addressing the converts? This poser for a panel discussion on the opening day saw an animated discussion on the current state of environmental documentary filmmaking. Issues of funding, creative freedom, art and agenda figured prominently. The discussion also allowed new and old audiences to engage in their own critique and assessment of the films being screened. CSE logo © Centre for Science and Environment There is no one way of looking at the issue of environment, then how can there be one way of making environmental documentaries? This question was discussed for over two-hours by the panel, constituting acclaimed documentary filmmaker Sanjay Kak, Swiss documentary director Alec Wohlgroth and Pradip Saha, the managing editor of Down to Earth. Citing his recent experience of having watched close to a hundred documentaries in a span of three days straight at an international gathering on the issue of water, Saha warmed up the discussion by stating that the death of creativity is palpable - when it comes to documentaries dealing with environment, most of them look the same. He also asserted that funding is a massive constraint for documentary filmmakers in exercising creativity and honest expression. Responding to this, Kak said there can be no excuse for poor art, but he agreed that the issue of funding is critical to the business of documentary filmmaking. Wohlgroth added that each documentary has a contextual issue at hand and its presentation is broadly decided by the purpose for which it is made. He added that in Switzerland the genre of documentary films is not as politicised as it is in India and therefore is largely academic in its approach. The issue of new media and internet-based communication was also raised with reference to its implication on small films and documentaries. The broad opinion on this was that though the possibilities for an independent assertion by filmmakers, due to reduced costs and cheaper technology, have increased yet the full potential of it is yet to be utilised. Kak drew attention to the new editing suites and projection systems that allows documentary filmmakers to pitch their creative interventions on their own steam. He stressed that documentary filmmakers need to think more pro-actively about issues of marketing and publicity, among other things, to increase the audience existing for such films. Despite the difference in the opinions on some issues, the panelist dismissed any speculations on the future of environmental documentary films. Looking ahead The days before and during the film festival coincided with disruption of public transport and some amount of chaos in the National Capital over the issue of sealing. It was logical for all to speculate on the issue of participation. But the three days of the festival attracted a wide section of audience. From a 10-year old girl, whose naval officer father called us up to know more about the theme on water to introduce his daughter to environment, to a 24-year old mass communication student, who had greeted our team with “Who is the lead female cast?”, people turned-up and kept coming. This connected with Delhi's Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit's inaugural remark about the power of cinema and of reaching out to youth for a bigger change towards a more informed and responsible approach to environment. Coca-Cola We also experienced the power of images and a story well told in connecting people. A Sunday evening crowd, with a good mix of first time audience, grappled with a peoples' movement in Kerala's Plachimada district against a multi-national giant that pumped poison into the local groundwater with impunity as the local tribal population helplessly bore the brunt of it. The discussion that followed with directors, P. Baburaj and C. Saratchandran, on the film, 1,000 Days and a Dream, brought to the fore the concern that the film had evoked and how it had moved people who watched it. For more information on the film festival, visit Toxics Link

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