WELCOME TO THE 83rd EDITION OF "THE fd ZONE" !
Curatorial Note:
"Dams are the new temples of modern India," said then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, a statement that signaled his country's long-term approach to its rivers. This week we bring two films which reflect this attitude. 'Benefits of Bhakra Nangal' made in 1955 procrastinates India's road to development. In contrast Sourav Sarangi's 'Char' reflects on the aftermath of The Farakka Barrage (built in 1975). The barrage was constructed across the river Ganges in West Bengal and changed the riverGanga's flow and created transient islands or 'chars'. The 'Chars' emerged like a gift that the river gave to the people as a refuge after it tore away their native village when the water levels rose. But this gift is built on sand, a fleeting environmental reaction after the dam upstream was put into operation ...
Benefits of Bakra Nangal 1955/11min/ produced by M Bhavnani
Synopsis
The film deals with the gigantic and famous Bhakra Nangal dam. How an arid sandy waste land in Punjab was transformed into a huge lake with 2 power houses, now irrigating 2.5 million hectares of land is show in the film.
CHAR... the No-Man's Island
Sourav Sarangi, India / Italy, 2012, color, HDcam, 88' -
Synopsis
Meet Rubel, fourteen-years-old boy smuggling rice from India to Bangladesh. Everyday he crosses the international border, river Ganga, which eroded his home in mainland India when he was just four. Years later a fragile island called Char formed within the large river. Rubel’s family and many homeless people settled in this barren field controlled by border army. He dreams of going his old school in India but reality forces him to smuggle stuff to Bangladesh. He fights on while monsoon clouds arrive inviting flood, the river swells up again. 'Char may disappear but we won’t’, smiles the boy.
Sourav Sarangi observed this soggy microcosm over a number of years, using various different cameras to capture heterogeneous, at times almost apocalyptic images on film. His story of a boy growing up is left with an open ending, mixed with an oddly wonderful feeling of amazement... Berlin Film Festival
Director’s note
An unusual sight struck me about ten years back. Pasrashpur, a small Indian village was vanishing before my eyes. Trees, buildings, roads... everything except humans slowly disappeared to a watery grave. River Ganga was eroding.
A small crack on ground widens slowly, and after a while the piece of earth where you stood minutes before jumps into the river with a splash. And sometimes it simply goes down in silence, as if in slow motion. The land is consumed, much like a prey hypnotized by a recoiling anaconda. And the villagers told me something similar. “The river Ganga has turned into a snake here!”
“Yes...” they said, “after the construction of the Farakka Dam (barrage) the mythical river mother has turned into a snake caught at her neck by modern technology. And for survival, the snake strikes back and forth with her tail to take away everything she gave us over ages.”
In a flash I could see a myth rationalized by the wise illiterates living in remote corners of my country. For me a journey began.
And I met Rubel, a village boy living on the verges of existence by smuggling rice from India to Bangladesh. He comes from the same village Parashpur that was eroded ten years back which I shot.
The river gave back what it took; the lost land resurfaced as an island called Char. But the society ruled by our divisionist polities made it inaccessible by drawing lines called border! Thus, Char, the new land of hope becomes a prohibited zone to enter. People are not just physically cut off from the mainland but dehumanized in all regards. They become human ghosts having no voices. This disturbed me.
By making films you look into lives of others. But I believe, camera is also a mirror to you. I tried to express my experience and emotions by being in Char. And the tryst between man and nature fascinated me to tell the story a magical river and millions who were ...and will be there.
You can fix a border but not the river.
watch trailer -- http://www.youtube.com/
Interview With the Director -- http://dearcinema.com/
Film Website -- http://www.char.org.in/
CREDITS
Director and Producer -- Sourav Sarangi
Cinematography -- Sourav Sarangi, Robin Das, Minarul Mondal
Ajoy Noronha
Editing -- Sourav Sarangi, Kaushik Chakrabarty
Sound -- Minarul Mondal, Sumanta Samanta,
Awards
Golden Kapok Award,
(Best Direction) GZ DOC, China, 2012
Best Documentary Award ChopShots, Indonesia, 2012
Special Mention, Dubai International Film Festival, UAE, 2012
Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) National Film Award, India, 2012
CINEMA Fairbindet Award, (nomination) Berlinale
Special Festival Mention Jury, Bhopal International Film Festival,
Nominee, Best Documentary Feature, Social Impact Media Award, USA, 2013
TRT Documentary Awards, (nomination) Istanbul, 2013
After graduating from the Presidency College, Kolkata, Sourav Sarangi joined the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune specializing in editing. His debut film ‘TUSUKATHA’ received accolades from many leading international film festivals. Since then he has been editing, writing, directing and producing in both fiction and nonfiction genres. He is also popular among student communities in various film schools as an articulate teacher.
Currently he is involved in international co-productions as an independent producer and director. His recent award winning work is an international co-production documentary titled ‘BILAL’. The film is based on observations about a three-year-old kid growing up with blind parents in Kolkata. BILAL travelled over fifty international festivals winning eighteen top awards.
He worked as the chief editor in an Indo-Italian co-production in Rome and Naples. Sourav has also extensively worked in private television channels in India as chief programming director. He supported and executed a number of productions on popular entertainment as well as social issue films which are still considered important works in regional television industry.
Sourav has also served as jury in international film festivals.
All screenings @ FD ZONE are FREE and open to all.
ENTRY ON FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS.
JOIN THE EVENT, INVITE YOUR FRIENDS.
VENUE -- RR Theatre ,10th floor, Films Division, 24, Pedder Road, Mumbai-400026
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Upcoming screenings at The FD Zone:
Uranium Film Festival has been postponed to April '2014
www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/en
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