Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing The World, Abused 2

Choropampa, El Precio del Oro The Price of Gold Peru, 2002, 52 min Director: Ernesto Cabellos and Stephanie Boyd Producer: Guarango Cine y Video Director's Contact: ecabellos@guarango.org/stephtito@amauta.rcp.net.pe

A devastating mercury spill by a US-owned gold mine transforms a quiet peasant village in Peru's Andean mountains into a hotbed of civil resistance. A courageous young mayor emerges to lead his people on a quest for healthcare and justice. But powerful interests conspire to thwart the villagers at every turn in this two-year epic chronicle of the real price of gold.

 

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing The World, Abused 2

Harvesting Hunger India, 2001, 53 min Director: Krishnendu Bose Producer: ActionAid India Director's Contact: earthcare1@vsnl.com

Today Indian agriculture is in a crisis. It's worse than when the magical seeds of the Green Revolution arrived. This agricultural system is coming to an end. But this has made our sustainable agriculture and lifestyle directionless. Biotech is one alternative scientists are suggesting. But we have to be cautious that this, too, doesn't go the way of the Green Revolution.

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing The World, Abused 2

Ragi Kanako Bonga Buru Buddha Weeps in Jaduguda India, 1999, 55 min Director: Shriprakash Producer: Kritika Director's Contact: kritikashri@hotmail.com

Jaduguda is India's only productive uranium mine. Almost 30 years of mining have resulted in excessive radiation and contamination of water, land and air. 'Ragi Kanako Bonga Buru' is an attempt to record how the lives of the people of Jadugoda have been turned into a veritable hell.

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing The World, Abused 2

Suits and Savages - Why the World Bank Won't Save the World UK, 2000, 38 min Director: Zoe Young and Dylan Howitt Director's Contact: zoe@esemplastic.net

Penetrating the smokescreen of a global bureaucracy ... 'Suits and Savages - Why the World Bank Won't Save the World'. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) looks promising on paper- it offers two and a half billion dollars from the world's governments to spend on global green aid and an inclusive, democratic model of goverance. But does this newest of the international financial institutions live up to its own rhetoric? 'Suits and Savages' looks at a GEF/World Bank 'ecodevelopment' project from the ground up - travelling between one remote tribe in India to another more powerful one in Washington DC; spanning the gulf between their environments with a video letter from the forest to the Bank. Based on research from the University of Hull, UK, assisted by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing The World, Abused 2

Under the Sun: The Transient Fisherfolk of Jambudwip India, 2003, 36 min Director: Rita Banerji Producer: International Collective in Support of Fishworkers Director's Contact: dustyfootindia@yahoo.com

Since 1955, Jambudwip, a 20-sq km island in the Sunderbans delta of West Bengal, has been used as a base for fishery operations and as a fish drying site, mostly by small-scale fish workers. The largest stake-net fishing operation in the Sunderbans is based in Jambudwip. However, this traditional source of livelihood is now under serious threat. It is being alleged that the seasonal "occupation" of the Jambudwip island by fishermen and the fish-drying activity is a non-forest activity that cannot be permitted under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, without prior approval of the central government. The West Bengal government has been asked to remove all traces of "encroachment" on Jambudwip island. While the Fisheries Department of West Bengal has strongly defended the fishermen's claim to the seasonal use of the island, the State's Forest Department is bitterly opposed. The fishermen are now living in the shadow of uncertainty. Will their traditional fishery be regularized, or will they be summarily evicted?

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing The World, Abused 2

Vikas Bandook Ke Naal Se Development Flows From the Barrel of the Gun India, 2002, 54 min Director: Biju Toppo and Meghnath Producer: Akhra Director's Contact: akhra@rediffmail.com

A film of the human right violation of the indigenous people in India, 'Development Flows from the Barrel of Gun' documents the state violence on the people affected by the development projects in the country. It raises the basic question of the whole understanding of the development taken by the state under the guise of progress, and when the affected people question it, they become the subject of the state repression. The film tries to bring forward the voices of project-affected people in Kashipur (Orrisa), Koel-Karo (Jharkhand) , Mahendikheda (Madhya Pradesh), Umbergaon (Gujrat) and Nagarner (Chattisgarh). The film tries to find out the relationship of violence with the new economic policy and globalization. The film brings out the people's viewpoint of development, which is sustainable and stands on the principles "not at the cost of the people", "not at the cost of nature". This viewpoint is dramatically opposite to that of state.

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing The World, Abused 2

Ways Israel, 2002, 17 min Director: Romi Kaplan Producer: Radical Media Director's Contact: romi@radicalmedia.tv

Land in Israel is a politically contested commodity. The government of Israel has commissioned a massive toll road building project called the Trans-Israel Highway. The route of the road is set to traverse almost the entire country affecting many different settlements and disrupting a number of important natural environments and historic sites. In Israel land is not only the focus of political debate in the realm of environmentalism, but also the essence of political debate regarding nation building, historical memory and statehood. 'Ways' follows the coalitions formed in protest against the highway.

Films at Other Worlds Are Breathing The World, Abused 2

Words on Water India, 2002, 85 min Director: Sanjay Kak Producer: Octave Communications Director's Contact: octave@vsnl.com

Shasan valo, sun lo aaj - hamare gaon mein hamara raaj (Listen to us, you who rule our villages, we control). For more than 15 years people of the valley have resisted a series of dams on their river, and in their struggle have exposed the deceptive heart of India's development politics. The struggle has forged unusual alliances - Adivasis in the hills, farmers from the Nimad Plain, sand quarries and fisherman on the river, and middle-class activists. They stand against a powerful apparatus: Ministers, Magistrates, Police Commissioners, the World Bank, and multinational corporations. The film was shot over a period of two years, after the Supreme Court lifted the stay on the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam, and pushed the resistance into its most crucial phase. 'Words on Water' is about a sustained nonviolent resistance which empowers the people as they struggle for their rights yet saves them from the ultimate humiliation of violence.