• 4 Days • 2 venues • 20 Films • 4 Panel Discussions

BSF organized the second edition of the International Film Festival Jacaranda tales in October, with Climate Resilience as the theme. The in-person film festival screened 20 films, had 4 panel discussions and saw attendance, participation and discussion by more than 600 people, across age groups. The opening address was delivered by Padmavati Rao and Dr Ramchandra Guha delivered the closing note. Apart from these, the panels were populated by researchers, activists, eminent environmentalists, knowledge experts, professionals and filmmakers among others.

The festival also had an online edition which featured 20 films across 3 themes, available to all and free of cost. With a viewership of more than 1500 people, the online festival took these stories across borders.

The event was non-commercial, non-ticketed and open to all.

Organized in collaboration with

Bangalore Film Society (BFS), Kriti Film Club, Gamana Women’s Collective, Environment Support Group (ESG), Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), Karnataka Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi and Mount Carmel College (MCC).

This summer, many Indian cities experienced record-setting temperatures. Multiple cities such as Navi Mumbai even witnessed as many as 16 deaths due to heat stroke during a public event. Deaths have been reported even when the temperatures were not sky-rocketing and people were exposed to extreme humidity. The World Bank warned that India could become one of the first places in the world where wet-bulb temperatures could increase beyond the survivability threshold of 35°C.

India has been experiencing the severe impacts of worldwide climate change for a few decades now. Unusual and unprecedented spells of hot weather are expected to occur far more frequently and cover much larger areas. With rapid urbanisation our cities are becoming concrete jungles and in turn, ‘heat islands’. Dry years are expected to be drier and wet years wetter. Our rivers’ flows are already altered due to the glacier melt. Coastal cities such as Mumbai and Kolkata are particularly vulnerable to the impact of sea-level rise.

Being a developing country, we are still tackling issues such as disproportionate distribution of wealth and resources, strain on existing resources due to increasing population etc. Policies in India are still failing to be inclusive of the marginalised groups and communities. Climate change is deeply intertwined with global patterns of inequality, making the socially weaker section of the society more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and widening the inequality based on caste, class, religion, ethnicity, etc. in our society. Underestimating the effects of climate change in India could reduce or even reverse the progress on a range of goals for sustainable development related to poverty, hunger, health and wellbeing, equality, economic growth and industrial innovation and biodiversity.

Every year, millions of people from rural areas migrate to the cities in search of a better quality of life. This rapid urbanisation in the country will require new construction of commercial and residential spaces and infrastructure. That means, a large chunk of the India of the future is yet to be built. As a nation, we are at a juncture where we have the possibility to incorporate methods adapting to climate change and make our infrastructure resilient. We have a rare chance of designing them right.

Combining climate change resilient planning with inclusive policies and mindful businesses and industries can become our initial step towards tackling this threat to humankind. We need sustainable solutions, ways of living by using not only the technology and modern methods but also indigenous systems which can empower marginalised communities, genders and castes.

Keeping these complexities of tackling the climate change in India in mind, we are organising the second edition of an international film festival titled, ‘Jacaranda Tales’, on the theme of Climate Resilience. This is a non-commercial film festival and will be open to the public. We will be screening films that narrate stories of resilience and courage, as well sustainability and environmental actions and solutions, contextualised on the principles of equality, self-respect and dignity of people. The selected films are both national and international and across the genres of documentary, short fiction, animation and action/ organisational video stories.

Interspersed with panel discussions with eminent environmentalists, knowledge experts, professionals and filmmakers, we attempt to initiate conversations that recognise such possibilities and contribute to the narratives needed in the current situation of a changing climate that urgently demands attention.

We aim to bring together a community that is aware and is imaginative towards creating a climate resilient future. The festival will be held in two-day slots at Gandhi Bhavan and Mount Carmel College to reach a diverse audience. We intend to take this film festival to Bangalore urban and rural academic institutions and communities soon after the festival is over, and will also organise an online edition of selected films.

Schedule

Collaborators

Kriti Film Club is an initiative of KRITI, a development praxis and communication team, a not-for-profit entity, based in New Delhi, with work across India. They have been screening documentary films at least once a month since the year 2000 on a range of issues connected with development, human rights and social attitudes/ trends.

Environment Support Group (ESG), is an independent not-for-profit organisation that works to mainstream environmental and social justice in decision making through research, documentation, advocacy, training and campaign initiatives. They endeavor to mainstream the rights of local communities and voiceless ecosystems taking into account contextual complexities, especially their socio-cultural histories and traditional knowledge and practices. They work inter-sectorally, inter-sectionally and with an intent to ensure their actions are inter-generationally relevant.

Karnataka Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi is an autonomous state body for furthering the objective of perpetuating the memory and message of Gandhiji to the coming generation. It has housed within its premises various Gandhian constructive institutions such as Karnataka Sarvodaya Mandal, the Sarvodaya Sahithya Samithi, the Harijan Sevak Sangh. This festival will be hosted in Gandhi Bhavan, Bangalore.