HYDERABAD: The impact of a movie can be best gauged by reactions from the audience. When the closing credits of Buchad rolled, a girl among the viewers at Jai Chandiram Memorial Community Media Film Festival burst into tears, recalling the hardships that her farmer parents underwent to provide her an education.
The movie by Vishal Garad showed how a small-scale soyabean farmer in Maharashtra dies while trying to save his harvested crop from floods.
Bhima Pawar (played by Vishal) and his wife harvest the crop all day, urging their daughter to attend her online classes so that she does not end up being a farmer.
He then borrows money to buy a tarpaulin cover, from a landlord, who does not fail to remind the farmer that he has to clear his previous debts, too.
“I will pay back everything after I sell the crop. I have already harvested it,” promised Bhima.
The festival
Jai Chandiram Memorial Community Media Film Festival was launched by Deccan Development Society (DDS) Community Media Trust in 2017. This year, the festival featured more than 20 films made by community filmmakers from across the country.
The festival, which took place on DDS campus at Pastapur village near Zaheerabad, saw the presence of popular film director Nag Ashwin of Mahanati fame.
“Watching these movies has been an educational and enriching experience for me. I came here after attending the trailer screening of a commercial movie, and I am stunned by the stark contrast of these two worlds. Community movies have moving tales to tell, and all filmmakers must be encouraged to create such cinematic experiences,” said the director.
This year, the festival received films from community media initiatives in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, Nagaland, Assam, Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, New Delhi and also six films from West Africa under international genre.
Platform for the unheard
Prof Vinod Pavarala, senior professor of communication at University of Hyderabad, said that DDS is a rare example in which the media is not run by rich corporates, but women from marginalised sections in the society.
“This makes DDS community media trust a very democratic platform. The women here do not make films for profit, but to champion the issues of many others who do not have a voice in mainstream cinema,” he added.
Dr Kanchan Malik, who teaches community media at UoH and was part of the jury, said that such films are necessary to reflect the local voices and concerns from every part of society.
Another jury member and filmmaker Vijendra Patil hailed the women of DDS for their hard work and determination which have earned them praises in different countries.
Ceremonial drum
‘The Log Drum of Pessao’ from Arunachal Pradesh bagged the first spot in the film festival. Made by Millo Tako, Chonglise Sangtam and Lamthanglian Vaiphei of the Green Hub Fellowship programme, the film tracks the making of a ceremonial log drum. The journey from forest to village, peppered by rituals and traditional celebrations, was beautifully captured.
Debt and floods
The second spot went to Marathi movie ‘Buchad’ (The Heap of Soyabean Crop) made by Vishal Garad under his film production company called Ingit Production. The movie showed how a farmer’s family toils in the fields and gets crushed under debt to harvest a crop, which is ultimately destroyed by rains.
Women and identity
The third spot went to Gujarati film ‘Identity of a Woman As A Farmer’. The movie captures women farmers talking about how they are not given property rights even if they are the ones who are toiling in the fields. In spite of being the backbone of the family, women are still struggling to be identified as active members of the family.
— Kakoli Mukherjee
kakoli_mukherjee@newindianexpress.com
@KakoliMukherje2