Rivers and oceans sustain our lives, but as urban dwellers we know little about them. To bring to the fore stories of the people, places and ecosystems that contribute to rivers and oceans, a group of individuals have organised Moving Waters Festival, to be held at Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, supported by Nature in Focus, Suchitra Film Society, Jungle Lodges and Resorts and Candor International School. Adarsh Raju, a documentary film-maker and program co-ordinator, speaks about the idea behind the festival. My friend Abhi and I had attended film festivals in the US. We wanted to host a similar film festival in Bengaluru. Besides, there are no platforms for documentary films in the city. The organisers are from different backgrounds eachwith an interest in the environment. There are techies, a marine and wildlife biologist, says Adarsh. The festival features five world premieres, which includes Kiribati and Bali to Bengaluru’s Vrishabhavathy and Arkavathy rivers. There are films by Claudia and Hendrik Schmidt, Peter McBride, Ben Knight, Will Stauffer-Norris, Andreas Roth, Marco Biemann, Volker Barth and national films. There will be animation, short films and documentaries, informs Adarsh. The Indian films include: The Fishers of Palk Bay, which features the last remaining traditional fishing practices of the Palk Bay, by Saravanakumar Salem, The Mangroves by Pooja Gupta, Unearthed, which shows how sand mining is affecting the Cauvery, by Munmun Dhalaria, Kali by Amoghavarsha, which shows the river through the eyes of a 100-year old woman, Janaki, Crabs of Karwar, by Adarsh and Radha Rangarajan and Shifting Undercurrents: Women Seaweed Collectors of Gulf of Mannar by Rita Banerji, which is about 5000 women who collect seaweed in the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, off Tamil Nadu. The festival also includes eight key speakers. It will be held on September 17 and 18, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., free entry and is open to public.
2016, The Hindu