The Community Media Film Festival held at Didgi in Zaheerabad mandal in Sangareddy district saw films that spoke for thousands of villagers presenting their life and struggle in a nutshell.
The movie Curse of Monsoon shot by activists of Sangwari Khabariya laid bare the difficulties that the residents of Manipet in Chhattisgarh State face during monsoon. “Our village will completely be cut off from the rest of the world for almost three months. We have to cross a river and walk for about 15 km to reach the nearest hospital. Our repeated appeals to the authorities to construct a bridge has failed to get any response,” said a villager in the movie, sharing his woes.
“All the students, except three or four, come to school from the other side of the rive and ask us to declare holiday during monsoon. We are helpless too,” said a teacher from the same village.
The film shot by Dinesh Kumar, Dev Kumar and Heeralal without any training in film-making highlights several such problems that the villagers face.
In another movie Millets- Securing Lives made by Peter, Kewekhrozo Thopi, Tshenyilou Churhah and Vozoli Khamo of the North East Network from Assam explains how the locals look at millets and how important they are, if consumed regularly, for keeping good health. The film also explains how farmers returned to millet cultivation after recognising its importance.
One more movie was on GM cotton failure in Burkina Faso explaining the bitter experience of farmers with genetically modified cotton and how they returned to the local cotton cultivation.
These movies, specific to the regions that the film-makers come from, were chosen out of 22 films that were submitted for selection to Jai Chandiram Memorial First National Community Media Film Festival organised by Deccan Development Society (DDS) Community Media Trust here on Sunday.
“The community media film festival should be a regular activity where communities can share their experiences and speak about their life when the mainstream media has denied space for them. The communities have both the ability and the right to tell their story,” said Vinod Pavarala, professor of Communications and UNESCO Chair on Community Media at University of Hyderabad.
Latha Jishnu, a senior journalist from Delhi, said the situation would have been different had the marginal sections in Odisha had community radio when mining activity took place a few years ago. The programme was presided over by DDS director P.V. Satheesh.
