Words On Water - Documentary Screening: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR WORDS ON WATER -...

Before India's news channels made it a daily soap, the Narmada drama was a lone battle of the powerless. Catch the action filmed over 2 years, at Goethe Zentrum today.

As part of its monthly screening of documentaries under 'Point Of View', Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad, in collaboration with the Documentary Circle of Hyderabad and the Alliance Francaise, is screening "Words On Water" on 18th September.

The film was produced by Sameera Jain & Reena Mohan, and directed by Sanjay Kak. The film explores the struggle of the people of the Narmada Valley against the big dams that will submerge their lands and displace them from their homes, traditions, and cultures.

For over 25 years, people of the Narmada Valley in central India have resisted a series of massive dams on their river. In their struggle, they have exposed the deceptive heart of India's development politics.

The struggle has forged unusual alliances amongst Adivasis in the hills, farmers from the Nimad plain, sand-quarriers and fishermen on the river, and middle-class activists. They are against the powerful apparatus of this chosen model of development - ministers, magistrates, police commissioners, the World Bank, and multinational corporations. Through the tumult and slogans, we make our way to the transactions between power and powerlessness.

The film was shot over a period of 2 years, after the Supreme Court lifted the stay on the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam.

Sanjay Kak is an independent documentary film-maker whose film In The Forest Hangs A Bridge (1999) won the Golden Lotus for Best Documentary Film at the 1999 National Film Awards in India. The film also won the Asian Gaze Award at the Pusan Short Film Festival, Korea.

His recent work includes One Weapon (1997), a video about democracy in the 50th year of Indian independence, and Harvest Of Rain (1995), made in association with the Centre for Science & Environment (New Delhi). He has also produced and directed Cambodia: Angkor Remembered (1990).

Entry is free. Please contact Goethe-Zentrum at 6552-6443 or Alliance Francaise at 2770-0734 / 2770-0736 for further details.