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Paromita Pain

Lights, camera... positive action, say these young filmmakers armed with a camera to document the lives and struggles of the `voiceless people'.

A 1999 World Bank survey among people living below the poverty line showed that the biggest barrier to their development was not lack of resources but the absence of an effective voice to articulate their needs. A group of young filmmakers are out to give voice to the voiceless through their films.

From women's issues to health and disasters, they cover them all.

Outside Mercy produced by Clifton, Deepu and Revathy, for instance, was inspired by what they saw during the post-tsunami rehabilitation work at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. "Though we are into filmmaking we never thought of making a film on the tsunami. However, the sight of Dalits demanding food and work to earn a livelihood moved us to record their plight. It's their unfailing faith in democratic protests and collective struggle that inspired us to film how they were systematically ignored in the rehabilitation process," says Revathy. It was a heartening moment when, after the film was screened at Kumarakudi near Chennai, the local women "asked for a copy of the film and said that they have decided to question the system hereafter."

Away from the glamour

Martin, 29, a Ph.D student at Lancaster University in England, says his social conscience led him to join a collective called Tortuga Films. This took him to Genoa in Italy to document the events surrounding the Genoa Social Forum and the G8 meeting in July 2001. Although the documentary, titled Genova Città Aperta - Open City, features many interviews and happy images, and pays sufficient attention to State repression, it fails to explain why people resort to violence.

The documentary seeks to illuminate the actions and imaginative theatre that painted the streets of Genoa with a positive colour and gave good reason to be optimistic about the future. "Several ideas were abandoned during the two weeks we were in Genoa, due to police action. We lost money, laptop, blood, sweat and tears in Genoa, but not hope," he says.

Some films try to make an impact at the policy level, while others focus on issues that would have otherwise remained unreported. A few showcase positive social changes.

Based in New York and Ahmedabad, Video Volunteers is a programme of Creative Visions Foundation, a non-profit organisation, which aims to reach video filmmaking skills to grassroots NGOs.

Jessica Mayberry, Director of Video Volunteers, says, "Volunteers, either independent filmmakers or film students, are matched with NGOs in developing countries. They help write, shoot and edit one broadcast-quality film for advocacy, fundraising, training, or awareness efforts. Moreover, they train the staff to produce video films and provide them with a digital video camera, tapes, and editing software. The staff can then produce simple videos, sometimes for as little as $100."

In August 2003, Jessica was awarded a fellowship by the American India Foundation, and spent nine months working with the "barefoot filmmakers" at the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in Gujarat. The film on women-led initiatives to combat drought was screened in several villages and it inspired village women to take on traditionally male roles.

A film for Akanksha, an NGO in Mumbai that educates slum children, connects donors with the children's stories and helps bring in the needed resources.

In Assam, an NGO called I-CARD commissioned a film to rally the Mising tribe to fight for land title. The NGO was also trained in video production. I-CARD hopes filmmaking will provide an alternative form of expression to tribal youth seeking to be heard, and prevent them from taking recourse to terrorism or violence.

An invigorating brew

New to the scene but right on track is the founding trio of Filter Coffee Productions (FCP), who are convinced that serious, non-fiction programming can be packaged in an engaging manner. The trio — Anushka, Anupama and Tarun — has graduated from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. They work independently but, as Tarun says, "Most of our videos are made for NGOs, which need documentation for their campaigns or for awareness creation."

Their first project was with the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, for a film called Thodar Payanam. "We were documenting the performance of the Sree Sakthi Magalir Nataka Mandram, an all-women's travelling theatre that has broken significant barriers. The Isai Natakam is traditionally a male-dominated genre, with a few women usually included for sensational value. The challenge lay in capturing how they broke with tradition to play all roles, including male roles, without much `rebellion'. They continue to live and work within their communities but at the same time, stand up for their rights as women and as artistes. It was really inspiring to be with them," he says.

In Dignity was made for the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), Chennai, as part of an awareness campaign for school and college children, as well as potential employers of schizophrenic persons. The idea is to help people understand the disorder without resorting to visual clichés of the mentally ill. "We, therefore, chose to make the film part-documentary, part-fictional, using a group of young actors," says Tarun.

When working on a film, the trio rarely takes its camera along on the first visit. "A couple of visits is important to get a feel of the place, and let the people know what we're up to. We also get some idea of the problems involved. Of course, people talk and react differently in front of a camera, and that means sometimes the stories you expected them to tell don't happen, or change. It is also part of our job to make people feel comfortable before a camera," he says.

Visual messages

Tarun believes low-budget videos are a powerful tool to get messages across to different groups of people, funding agencies, students and decision-makers. KRITI Film Club comprises amateur and professional filmmakers, and provides a space for brainstorming and sharing among different people. Aanchal Kapur, KRITI team leader, says, "We are a group of development thinkers and actors with multi-disciplinary skills who want to give development a holistic perspective. We run the club on contributions and through borrowed home equipment." Started in September 2000, it has screened films like Harvesting Hunger by Krishnendu Bose, and Aadha Aasman by Samina Misra.

Picture by Shaju John

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