Apour Ti Yapour. Na Jang Na Aman. Yeti Chu Talukpeth.

Between the Fence and the Border and on the Edge of a Map

This documentary feature details the lives of displaced families from Kashir who live in either side of the border.

Since 1947, Kashmir has suffered atrocities inflicted by both states which supposedly govern them – India and Pakistan. However, for the last 20 years, the province of Kashir has been forced into a reign of unstable terror, so much so that people who’ve been separated from their families either never came back to their homes again, or got back too late and find their family members already dead. The bureaucracy, violence, and injustice these people suffer is beyond belief, to the point where one must ask what benefits of a free state do the Kashmiris enjoy? Both governments have claimed parts of Kashmir, with no consideration to the people themselves.

A Film by Ajay Raina

Article by Rohan

The Last Page : Film Review

The film is primarily set in Nilampur, Malappuram, and documents the lives of the Adivasi populations that live in its forests – namely, the Chola Naykar (Cave People) and the Aranadar.

Historically, the forest lands that these 2 races inhabit were leased out by the British for cultivation in the 1920’s. However, after the British left, it was repossessed by local feudal lords and plantation owners.

Since then, the lives and culture of these indigenous people have gone downhill. The introduction of alcohol, new roads within forests causing elephant stampedes, miniscule payments for their rare herbs, rape and murder – and the sterilization of both males and females to control the Adivasi population and the expenses that’s part and parcel of ill-begotten births. Alcoholism is now prevalent in both the men and women, AIDS is spreading in the region and is given no news coverage, and dwindling populations suggest that these two races, and their 2500 year old cultures, will soon be wiped out.

Direction: Unnikrishnan Avala

By Rohan

Silent Snow : Film Review

In this film, the filmmaker attempts to explain the effects of pesticide use to the people, environment and eventually the food consumed around the world.

The film starts off in Greenland, where news reports explain how pesticides stay stored in the fat of animals which are the main source of consumption and nutrition for the Inuit people. It also points out that the fat may remain stored in the fat of humans for generations, thereby affecting new-born children.

The filmmaker travels through three other countries which have been affected by pesticide use. In Uganda, the use of DDT is sanctioned by the government, and the refusal to use the chemical results in imprisonment. In India, separate campaigns and protests in both Bhopal and on the banks of the Periyar River have resulted in torture and abuse by the factories that dump toxic waste into the environment illegally. In Costa Rica, Banana farmers have increasingly employed the use of pesticides to ensure the maximum production of their crop, inevitably resulting in the extinction of many species of fish, as well as a large portion of the Reef disappearing.

In summation, many of the companies responsible for the pollution and contamination of food resources do so with no regard for US Health Standards, which ironically, are not maintained by US companies around the world. Pesticide use affects generations of people, and entire Eco-systems, which is by far, the most alarming by-product.

Script and Direction: Jan van den Berg
Cinematography: Viraj Singh & Jan van den Berg

By Rohan

Cotton for my Shroud : Film Review

Cotton for my Shroud is a documentary feature that attempts to document the truths behind the suicides of cotton farmers in Maharashtra. It follows the lives of the farmers who spend nearly 500 times the amount they used to spend on regular seeds, fertilizers and pesticides; on genetically - engineered seeds manufactured by Monsanto which provide fewer yields.

As is shown here, Farming families have resorted to different approaches to relieve themselves of their poverty. Since cotton is essentially a cash crop, these families have to rely on cotton sales for their daily bread, since they no longer cultivate food crops. Some replace cotton and move into soya bean cultivation – which is just as unprofitable. In certain cases, entire villages have agreed t sell everything they own to move to the outskirts of cities, just to make ends meet.The ones who can’t afford any of these – kill themselves.

The film also tries to explore how corporate entities with lobbying power, fully-sanctioned police brutality, and Government policies that have turned self-reliant farmers into beggars work together to ensure cotton farming will soon be replaced by Food Production Corporations instead of traditional farmers.

By Rohan

Far from the Mainstream : Film Review

This short film documents the lives of a group of people who wander around the country gathering random material from trash heaps and funeral pyres, using this random material to extract minute traces of gold and silver, by which they earn their livelihood.The film takes us through their lives and aspirations. The people are compelled to work this trade because of a combination of poverty and the skill passed through generations of  wanderers. Their nomadic existence all over India is mere fact, and not considered a divine curse. Poverty is almost considered a seasonal change, and indeed, nature does to some extent decide which days of the year they will inevitably starve.

Direction:: Patdeep Chaudhari

By Rohan

City's Edge : Film Review

This documentary short documents the lives of the inhabitants from a little village on the outskirts of Mumbai. They earn their daily wages picking trash from garbage dumps situated near their homes; and often struggle against the excavators, brought in by the same people that pay them for a day’s ‘pickings’.

Simple Visuals feature prominently in this short film, and coupled with simplistic, factual information provided by the same people whose lives are documented here, provides a poignant insight into the lives whose jobs society would deem ‘unworthy / lowly’. The music used in the film has a Minimalist style to it; thus rendering a portrait of a people that’s equally stark and sensitive... since it lets the words and idiosyncrasies of the people themselves tell their story.

By Rohan