EXHIBITION

Numerous illiterate rural women from all over the world, particularly Africa, are being trained as solar engineers in the village of Tilonia, Rajasthan through the Rural Solar Electrification Project run by the Barefoot College. There’s a hope that this simple idea which originated from a lesser known village in India will impact global communities.

The documentary captures four main pillars of the lifestyle of primitive tribes near Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, viz. livelihood options, education, health and culture. Despite being disconnected from mainstream, these tribes have managed to make livelihood using their handicraft skills. The film covers the aspects of IAP by Planning Commission and its measures to preserve their ethnicity while developing a sustainable livelihood system. It also captures how primary education is being provided to the tribal children by the government and NGOs.

Shocked by Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, the visionary millionaire John Hardy swore to dedicate the rest of his life to a revolutionary project. The multi-awarded Green School in Bali is the largest eco-infrastructure in the world. Hosting 200 children from 30 countries who are learning how to respect the planet in a 100% eco compatible village, Green School is shaping the Global Green Leaders of tomorrow.

Common lands in India are crucial for the rural economy and livelihoods of the rural poor. Set in Rajasthan, this film explores the commons in three villages- Achalpur, Thoria and Sanjari Ka Badiya. Having successfully overcome various threats to the commons with support from the Foundation of Ecological Security, these villages have set an example of development that emphasizes equity, sustainability, and social and gender justice.

A community from Western Rajasthan owes its existence solely to Rajasthani folk music. In these times of music mass produced, packaged, marketed and sold with short shelf lives, here are people who have had a torrid affair with music for generations. And like any passionate affair, there is a constant battle of love and hate but what never changes is the high respect for the art.

Kalahandi, Bolangir, Koraput – known as the KBK districts in Odisha are some of the most backward and deprived regions in India inspite of their rich resources. The film traces the journey and the plight of Migrant labourers, who are subject to inhuman working conditions and the effort of a group of grassroots level organisations leveraging MGNREGA to mitigate distress migration and left-wing extremist violence.

In an effort to help the poor, Muhammad Yunus started lending small amounts of money, also known as microcredit. That effort turned into a bank, which is currently helping 8 million women. He created other business solutions, which he calls "social business", for other problems faced by them including a lack of healthcare and education.

Since 1995, a quarter of a million Indian farmers have committed suicide – the largest wave of recorded suicides in human history. Most of them were cotton farmers from Vidarbha in Maharashtra. Once known for its fine cotton, it is now called the ‘graveyard of farmers’. This film tries to comprehend what is driving cotton farmers in India to despair – is it just a crisis of farm credit or are they victims of faulty paradigms of development.

The film raises the question of how a new ‘Malaysian Homeless Generation’ has emerged on the scenes. For youngsters, owning a home has become a distant dream. The filmmaker takes us on a journey to discover how this situation came about, what kind of forces are at play and most importantly how can the ordinary person have the power to resist market forces in a capitalist system such as Malaysia’s.

An intricate tale of ‘Medicine, Monopoly and Malice’, FIRE IN THE BLOOD tells the story of how Western pharmaceutical companies and governments blocked low-cost AIDS drugs from reaching Africa and the global south in the years after 1996 – causing ten million unnecessary deaths – and the improbable group of people who decided to fight back. Shot on four continents and including contributions from global figures such as Bill Clinton and Desmond Tutu, FIRE IN THE BLOOD is the never-before-told story of the remarkable coalition which came together to stop ‘the Crime of the Century’ and save millions of lives.

Aasma Bibi and Jaiprakash Choudhary, two waste recyclers from Delhi, travel to Mumbai and Kanpur to assess the effects of waste management projects carried out by large companies vying for carbon credits based on the livelihoods of waste pickers.

Despite this city becoming increasingly hostile to outsiders, boundaries blur and stories meld. The film explores the increasingly threatened spaces of street food in Mumbai and how it affects the livelihoods of those around it. It traces various legends around the origins of different street foods and how it changes people’s relationships with food, identity and outsiders even today.

In Bengal the art of weaving is traditional, Shantipur and Phulia being specifically popular for handloom weaving. With the course of history, the loom and the technique of weaving underwent changes. Weaving being the major and dominant occupational pursuit attracts people from all the casts. It is unfortunate that the handloom industry of Shantipur is now facing severe crisis.

The film is part of a series on conservation and sustainable use of medicinal and aromatic plants in Chhattisgarh. Increasing global demand for these plants and the consequent unsustainable harvesting has lead to the disappearance of several significant species from the wild. In this backdrop, Sarla Kashyap’s story is a unique effort. She sells Sorghum Juice in Bilaspur and grows ingredients entirely in her home garden. Totally self sufficient from production to sale and earning up to Rs.15000 per month, Sarla today supports her family.

The bus-stand outside Chennai high court is full of dreams and ambitions. It shares its space with the people who are waiting for public transport, the car parking lot for the high court, check post police chat room and a migrant family who have been settled there for 30 years. It’s where they cook, eat, sleep, study, store, a playing ground for their 6 children.

Journalist Deng Fei set up the Free Lunch Campaign in 2011, raising $3.9 million from Chinese social-media users in just one year and pioneered the power of micro-blogging in China’s battle against inequality.

The film focuses on the life of coin divers who are struggling with their survival on the bank of the holy river Yamuna (New Delhi). Their sources of income are the coins, articles, jewelries, metals etc thrown in the river by ‘God Fearing’ people. The ugly face of this busy and lavish city is revealed.

It is a film that celebrates the power of indigenous innovations and innovators, and takes us on a journey of ideas that are rooted within the context of India.

This documentary unfolds today’s Bangalore. In the race to become a ‘global’ city, the struggle is as much in holding on to the familiar as it is about embracing the new. In what ways does one seek the familiar, when the familiar is not the same anymore? What does it take for Ramanna, Mahadeva, and the Auto-Drivers at Shankar Nag Auto Stand, 8th Main Road, Basaveshwarnagar, to ‘belong’ in Bangalore today? How does Shankar Nag fit into this story about identity and belonging?

Sughra Fatima is a teenager who comes from a large Muslim family from the slums of Khidderpore in Kolkata. What sets her apart is that she fought with her family to take up boxing as a sport and excelled in it. Her mother Rukhsana Begum led a regular life till her husband fell ill. In order to support her family she took up to singing popular Hindi songs in bars and marriages. Beyond the Veil is their journey, both physical and internal as they fight to overcome stereotypes associated with sexuality and religion and their fight for the survival of their family.

Skype conversations with the parents of the child growing in her womb do not make the surrogate’s condition less alienating. Recognizing how exploitative this is, the filmmaker shows how woman’s labour is yet again pushed into the background and in the absence of regulations there is a climate of callousness.

The film depicts the initiative of the organisation Karambhoomi in the region of Ladakh. “Teach to learn” aimed to build the dynamic education system by harmonizing the urban and rural population of the world. The film shows how the organisation established winter tuitions for the students.

Sons and Daughters uncover the traumatic journey of children who are kidnapped or allured from rural India, to work as domestic servants in urban homes by “agents”, who are most often traffickers. These children undergo physical and sexual abuse during this business transaction and are kept as operational slaves.

75 years old Gafoor has to take his herd along with his family all the way to Kashmir for grazing, covering a distance of 300 kilometers in 21 days on foot. Facing challenges like the life threatening weather and the kids in his family shivering in the biting cold and not being able to walk, will Gafoor be able to cover this journey safely?

Tashi Bista, finds a way to bring alternative energy to Mustang, a remote region in Nepal, where he lives, by harnessing the power of wind.

Roman Catholic descendents of the indigenous population of Mumbai has found itself rapidly losing land to government and corporate forces. They see this as losing a valuable connection with the soil to which their culture is tied and at the same time a threat to livelihood and their very existence.

A monumental task undertaken by a man (a school drop-out) to address the dismal state of menstrual hygiene among women has unexpected consequences, potential to result in a million jobs for women.

The annual Donkey Fair, in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra attracts a family of donkey traders from Rajkot, Gujarat. This film reveals the ground reality of the fair and its ironic fallout, a setting in which Jivu Ben, the sole woman member of the family, distinctively stands out with her combative spirit.

A couple embarks on a journey home for Chinese new year along with 130 million other migrant workers, to reunite with their children and struggle for a future. Their unseen story plays out as China soars towards being a world superpower.

Part 2 of PovertyCure Series explores that people are made in the image and likeness of God with creative capacity, it transforms the way we understand wealth and poverty. PovertyCure is an International Network that fosters opportunity and unleashes entrepreneurial spirit that already fills the developing country.

The film tells the story about the Nagdi villagers in Jharkhand fighting for nearly 2 years against illegal acquisition of their agriculture land by the state government. The lands were saved back in 1957 through resistance but the government again wants to acquire the land without the villagers consent.

‘Odisha’ translates as the ‘land of the people’, but women from marine fisher communities have historically been a dismissed lot. Confronting an overall scenario of depleting fish catch, unsustainable fisheries, and women located along biodiversity rich habitats also have to contend with legal conservation. The documentary attempts to raise the ‘other’ questions- of skewed economics, of gender-discrimination policy, of political blind-sight and the struggle of overcoming discrimination and oblivion.

Redboxx is an inspiring story of a 19 year old boy Chandan who ran away from his hometown in Bihar when he was 7 years old for a better life in the city of dreams- Mumbai and ventured into entrepreneurship. Redboxx explores the life of this young boy whose story epitomizes the entrepreneurial dream of every young person across the world.

The documentary, set in Wayanad (Kerala, India) interweaves contemporary narratives with a tribal myth to explore effects of a rapidly changing landscape on lives and livelihood. As hills flatten and forests disappear along with traditional knowledge, the film reminds us of the danger of a monotonous and unsustainable future.

For those without access to a simple toilet, poop can be poison. Businessman-turned-sanitation-superhero Jack Sim fights this oft-neglected crisis affecting 2.6 billion people.

The documentary captures the journey of the filmmaker from the rural villages of Punjab to the capital of India with children of farmers, who have committed suicide. She confronts the government’s highest officials with the hope that they will realize the effects of their policies on these children.

It is a portrait documentary on Mohammad Hussain alias RANGWALE in the city of Ahmedabad in India. The film talks about this 75 years old man who does two jobs a days till date, just to earn something, but there is much more inside him which forms the idea of his existence in the city.

India and Pakistan have fought several wars over Kashmir where there are children whose fathers were killed, were arrested, or have gone missing. One such boy is Aadil who collects tear gas shells fired by police at protestors and sells these to a scrap dealer to earn money and help his family to survive.

30 June 2013

Dear friends,

Jeevika: Asia Livelihood Documentary Festival is a great way to get the documentary, filmmaker and livelihood issues exposure in the society and the film industry. We are delighted to have enthusiastic independent filmmakers and institutions promoting the festival among their network over a decade.

The 10 reasons why we think filmmakers submit their work to this unique non-profit initiative of India’s leading think tank, Centre for Civil Society are:

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As of today, we have received 80 documentaries for this year’s competition. The good news is that we have extended the late submission deadline to 8 July 2013.

To submit your film for consideration, visit www.jeevika.org

Finally, I look forward to welcoming you during the festival. So save the dates: 29-31 August, 1 September 2013 at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

Regards,

Manoj Mathew

Festival Director