Water, thou hast no taste, no color, no odor; canst not be defined, art relished while ever mysterious.  Not necessary to life, but rather life itself, thou fillest us with a gratification that exceeds the delight of the senses." —  Antoine de Saint-Exupery From Wind, Sand and Stars — 1939
It’s life sustainer. It’s colourless. It’s fast depleting. Space missions are exploring if it exists elsewhere in realms beyond. Yes, ubiquitous gift of nature, safe, sustainable life force — Water. In an effort to spotlight on the serious global water crisis, Bangalore will play host to International Film Festival on Water.
IFFW 2007, is being organised by collective of national and international bodies, to provide a singular focal point to address the issue. Arghyam, Bangalore Film Society, Films for Freedom, have joined hands with Water Journey — Forum for Fundamental Right to Water, Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival and Urban Research Centre, to bring the 2nd Edition of IFFW entitled Voices from the Waters -2007.
Speaking to MetroLife, BFS’ George Kutty and FfF’ Sushma Veerappa said IFFW, is also a “vibrant, colourful celebration of ‘water’ in all its liquid gory, while raising a shindig on the burning problem.” Nearly 120 films from 30 countries — ranging from full length features, shorts, animation and documents, will be showcased including cinematic works of auteurs like Satyajit Ray’s Ganashatru, M S Sathyu’s Bara, Girish Kasarvalli’s Dweepa and early documentaries of Jhanu Barua and Aribam Shyam Sharma.
According to George and Sushma the “festival, with its myriad melange of movies, attempts to connect the disapora with everyday, mundane ‘water’ as a platform for civilisation and social, as precious natural gift, as a culture and as pure poetry and as scarce resource that is lately being increasingly commodified.”
The festival, which seeks to embrace and interrogate sustainability across all of its forms: economic, social, ecological, political, cultural, technological, and aesthetic on sustainable development, they said, will feature groundbreaking works from eminent film-makers all across the globe.
Besides exploring environmental concerns through international interconnections, the festival, they noted, seeks to trigger interdisciplinary dialogue and vigorous debate on water. Besides linking local with global, the festival, will serve as platform to voices of grassroots level water activities across entire nation who will narrate evocatively with testimonies from lives lived and spent in the name of water. Apart from films per se, film-makers, from India and abroad, will interact with audience and share their individual experiences.
The four-day festival of cinematic narratives presenting variegated umbrella of individual perspectives, on water, George and Sushma said, will culminate with a conference, wherein general public, film-makers, policy makers, and grassroots level activities will interact to debate Water Equity and Ecological Issues. Water Equity will address how poor will access safe, potable water for their daily necessities and for their livelihood, while ecological issues will focus on management of water resources and sustainability. For more on fest, watch this space. The fest is on from June 7 to 11, 10 am to 8 pm, at Guru Nanak Bhavan.