Study & Documentation Outputs

The City Calling

The City Calling   (PAL 6’ 35”, English Subtitles)
I am the drum that will be heard (PAL 5’ 27”, English Subtitles)

 

“The City Calling” :-impact of rising sea levels on high tides which affect the slum communities living on the shoreline. The City to which ragpickers and hawkers come to provide cheap ecological services while living with low carbon footprints are often marginalised and displaced in modernisation drives, road widening etc. which increase the carbon footprints of the consumer  classes. 

 

The film has been uploaded on Youtube (duration: 96 mins). Trigger film prepared for Public Hearings on the Climate Crisis New Delhi, Nov 11-13, 2009, held under the aegis of A Civil Society Coalition for Climate Justice and Equitable Development as a run-up to the 15th Conference of the Parties meet on climate change at Copenhagen in December 2009.

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Seeding a New Knowledge Movement

Seeding a New Knowledge Movement : a film on Non-Pesticidal Management revolution in Andhra Pradesh, by John D'Souza & Shruti Kulkarni. DVD: Eng, PAL Dur. 26' 7".

In the seventies, most Indians were awe-struck with the success of the Green Revolution, that we just did not question the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The film is evidence that we were grossly mistaken.

Farmers in villages of Anantapur and Warangal districts have adopted NPM or Non Pesticidal Management practices and have grown food successfully without using pesticides.

What started as an effort to curb the devastating impacts of the Red Headed Hairy Caterpillar in the early 80s, is now a movement. Farmers have taken the control of their agricultural knowledge based on their traditional wisdom and local, indigenous solutions combined with farmer-friendly modern technologies and scientific intervention.

At the international negotiations, the hitherto polluting developed countries need to take deep, mandatory, emissions reductions. At the same time, at home, the Government of India needs to focus on the development needs of the poor in a low-carbon path through Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Industry, and Sustainable Energy.

(Along with the film, we also have a CD of a wide variety of documents, articles, manuals etc. We also have DVD of the full interviews with each of the protagonists and experts featured in the film. These too are available on request. The aim is to enable social workers and activists to enhance their understanding as well as provide resource material for training. Some of the interviews and literature is in Telugu as well)

 

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What song shall I sing today?

What song shall I sing today?
It’s nigh onto 3 years after the Tsunami. Yet some people continue to live in temporary settlements, in deplorable conditions, with no proper water supply and toilet facilities.

What song shall I sing today? journeys through the process of rebuilding of lives in the various phases of emergency relief to temporary shelters,and then on to permanent houses. It highlights the plight of those in temporary shelters hoping to get permanent houses; and of those in permanent settlements, awaiting the arrival of basic amenities - especially the hurdles placed by mindless application of regulatory provisions of the CRZ and the many other practical problems faced, that still keep some in temporary shelters.

The irony is that sanitation conditions in some permanent settlements are far worse than what obtains in the temporary shelters.

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Let's clean up this mess

Let's clean up this mess

This is what the women at the East Devadhanam in Trichy decided. And they succeeded. Simple methods, collective awareness, commitment and action brought about good sanitation. The women’s self-help groups in this slum are operating the first ever community-based DEWATS system in Tamil Nadu. A “pay and use” toilet complex, the income is being used for maintenance and the treated water is being used for growing vegetables.

In Madhuranthaganalore village, Cuddalore, enthusiastic school children participate in a Sanitation Parliament. The young social reformers from the Panchayat Union Middle School (the first school to have an ECOSAN toilet in Tamil Nadu) have taken the onus of maintaining toilets and general hygiene in the school. They not only spread the message within the school, but also take it to their families, the community and to nearby villages.

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Shanthi…Century Not Out

Shanthi…Century Not Out
Duration [Tamil,  33 mins 13 secs]

A film on a striking example of community awareness efforts by Shanti, which led to the construction of 200 Ecosan toilets in a tsunami affected village in South India.

In one rare case of tsunami-affected Kameshwaram village, in Nagapattinam district, the experiment with toilets has been immensely successful due to one woman's initiative. In spite of being a tsunami victim, Shanti was not bogged down by her circumstances. Instead she chose to start a revolution of sorts. She constructed the first ever Ecosan toilet in her house. Thanks to her efforts, now there are about 200 Ecosan toilets in the village, the highest in the entire Nagapattinam district. The film showcases how the construction of Ecosan toilets has changed the lives of many villagers and how it has also strengthened the process of Shanti's empowerment.

 

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Landscape for Rainwater

Landscape for Rainwater
Duration 26'  - Produced by Anouchka Kine and A&D

A huge and beautiful archaeological site in Hampi, Karnataka, shows aspects of Indian cities in late 15th early 16th  centuries, It shows ruins of tanks, water channels and aqueduct show how Indian people  succeeded in using a passive and complex system so that rainwater was sufficient for all their water needs.

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Vernacular Values

Vernacular Values:

Duration 58'18" - Produced by CED

Threading the cross section journeys into the other paradigm in architecture and examines the values and underlying commonsense of the vernacular in shaping our built environment.  In this film the philosopher in R L Kumar, a trained accountant reflects on his attempts to build houses differently with  a passion for the earth and the  people he is working with. This exploration has made kumar an architect, builder, comrade to his workers and philosopher to some of his NGO friends and chief haranguer to others.

 

Also available at youTube : http://youtu.be/4sNqk7WUQJ0

 

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A Farm Garden in a Dryland of Tamil Nadu

 A Farm Garden in a Dryland of Tamil Nadu
Duration 8'30" - Produced by Anouchka Kine and A&D

A landscape architect, Mohan S. Rao, explains using the example of a farm garden how to conserve and reuse rainwater as much as possible with sensitive and sustainable methods. The basic principles of this kind of work are explained in a simple way and in a quiet rhythm.

 

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City Farming

City Farming
Duration 16'47" - Produced by CED

Dr. R.T. Doshi  was one of the early adaptors of city farming. It also connects with a group of women in Pune, who took to waste re-cyling very early, and helped themselves to nutrition for their urban farms   (click for your copy)

 

Build Simply

 

Build Simply
Duration 37 minutes [English]

A film on the approach to ‘built environment’ adopted by Timbaktu

The film explores Timbaktu’s experiment, which sat a meeting point between forests, agriculture and the built environment. It narrates how a small group of development activists, committed to developmental and ecological regeneration, found ways to heal and regenerate a piece of dry, degraded land, and create an agro forest habitat. Protecting the land, revitalising natural resources and traditional genetic base were the key elements involved.

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Our Coast-Our Right

"Namma Kadalkarai - Namma Urimal"(Our Coast-Our Right)
Duration [ Tamil, 54 mins, PAL VCD Colour]

A film explaining the Coastal Regulation Zone, and the Economics and Politics of its Implementation from the point of view of Local Community Rights.

 

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Net-working Together

Inayand Seyal Peduttal  ("Net-working" Together )Duration [TAMIL, 38 mins 7 secs, PAL-VCD-Colour]

This film tries to address few such concerns related to reconstruction of livelihoods of the coastal communities post-tsunami. It covers a gamut of issues varying from alternative employment, educating the coastal communities to the global market hegemony and modernization of traditional fishing. How to make the local economy self-sustainable and how to ensure its continual growth? How can the NGOs and the local people take up this mammoth task of keeping the traditional economy alive and growing? "Net-working" Together talks about these and many more issues.

 

(For your copy..)

 

Veerabagupathy : A Community in Transition

Veerabagupathy  : A Community in Transition
Duration [English, 28 minutes]

A film showcases tsunami affected Veerabagupathy village in Kanyakumari District.

 

(Write to us for a copy)

 

The palapitta Sings No More

The pala-pitta sings no more :
film on climate change issues facing people from semi-arid regions featuring the People's Tribunal on  livelihoods and climate change, in South India
DVD PAL, 8’22” min.
Telugu with English sub-titles ,
22nd October 2010.
( for full resolution DVD contact CEDBAN   AT  DOCCENTRE   DOT  NET ).

 A short trigger  version of this Script  can be viewed at youtube..  ((http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjCto1pE_Nk)

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(Script:  http://el.doccentre.info/eldoc1/INECC/ppt/The_Palapittasingsnomore.pdf)

 

I am the Drum

 “I am the Drum” starts with the sudden floods in   North Karnataka which is a semi-arid region, and    the understanding of the people in terms of its  causes and unpredictability of weather that they have observed. The effects of these extreme      events is exacerbated by modern monoculture and      quarrying, and some of the options open to people      in these regions is to adapt to these changes.

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Singing out of time

 Singing out of time: (DVD Telugu with English subtitles), Dur. 26.22 Min, June 2011.

 Not so long ago we used to get this flower called Moti.

We used to make colours from these to celebrate Holi

Now the Moti blooms,but at the wrong time, after       Holi..

  - Shiva Prasad Madhavi, Adivasi Aikya Vedika, Adilabad at the    People's Tribunal on livelihoods and Climate Change (South India), 22 October 2010.

 

 Singing out of time

PAL, 26.22mins, Telugu with English

subtitles.(View Part1; Part2)

 

The palapitta Sings No More

The pala-pitta sings no more

PAL, 8.22mins, Telugu with English subtitles. Highlights of the People's Tribunal on livelihoods and Climate Change (South India), 22 October 2010.

In season, the bird called pala-pitta arrives. When the pala-pitta sings it means that the rains are coming. It is a sign which says get your plough in shape...

(YouTube link)

 

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Seeding a New Knowledge Movement: A film on Non-Pesticidal Management revolution in Andhra Pradesh

 Seeding a New Knowledge Movement:
A film on Non-Pesticidal Management revolution in Andhra Pradesh.

by John'Souza & Shruti Kulkarni. (ENG) PAL Dur. 26'7".

 

Farmers in villages of Anantapur and Warangal districts have adopted NPM or Non Pesticidal Management practices and have grown food successfully without using pesticides.

What started as an effort to curb the devastating impacts of the Red Headed Hairy Caterpillar in the early 80s, is now a movement. Farmers have taken the control of their agricultural knowledge based on their traditional wisdom  and local, indigenous solutions combined with farmer-friendly modern technologies and scientific intervention.

 

This video is an educational and motivational effort. You may use it freely. For full resolution DVD, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Along with the film, we also have a CD of a wide variety of documents, articles, manuals etc.

Read more: Seeding a New Knowledge Movement: A film on Non-Pesticidal Management revolution in Andhra Pradesh

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Ced Videos in Youtube

Community Learning Movement: a Session with Dilip Kamat
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