Nagari 2022

NAGARI 2022

WATER IN URBAN INDIA

Over the last few decades, we have seen how rapid population growth, high densities, poverty and high differentials in access to housing, public services and infrastructure have led to an increase in vulnerability, especially in India’s urban centres.

Previous editions of Nagari have looked at the state of housing and the challenges of livelihood that exist within this rapid urbanisation. This year, Nagari will focus on a single idea of how stories in urban India are tied to water.

THEME

FINAL FILMS

WINNING ENTRIES

AWARD CEREMONY

SHORTLISTED ENTRIES

PEOPLE

GOLDEN BIOSCOPE AWARD

अख्खा दिन, अख्खी रात (All day and all of the night) Akkha Din, Akkhi Raat

Film By: Priya Naresh, Palak Patel & Aniket Kolarkar
Mentored By: Sanjiv Shah

JURY CITATION:
“अख्खा दिन, अख्खी रात (All Day and all of the Night) is extraordinary in its representation of the monstrous injustice of rehousing people next to a toxic landfill. There has been a masterful use of film as a medium to slip in subtle juxtapositions of politics, of relocated marginalised communities and gender inequality against the backdrop of a growing mountain of garbage. The hopeful, self-told story of the young protagonist is rendered all the more poignant because of the state of injustice that she matter-of-factly accepts.

The film is deeply moving with its evocative visuals of the growing dump of waste while life continues to exist on its edge, reinforcing the gravity of the problem while pulling the viewer in. The film captures compelling scenes of a community’s struggle for procuring clean drinking water as rainwater, running through the landfill, drowns their low-lying houses. The music score is well-woven with the raw imagery to reveal a quietly searing yet poetic cinematic language.”

SILVER BIOSCOPE AWARD

শিলসাঁকোৰ উদং বুকু (Remember Xilxaku)

Film By: Maharshi Kashyap, Susmita Talukdar, Zeba Zoariah Ahsan, Biswajit Das, Dhruba Hazarika & Koushik Tamilmaran
Mentored By: Sanjiv Shah

JURY CITATION:
“শিলসাঁকোৰ উদং বুকু (Remember Silsako) is a commendable tale of the Silsaku Beel, a wetland in Guwahati, threatened by the growing needs of the city. The disturbing decline in the state of the wetland, its impact on the communities dependent on it and the attitudes of urban dwellers in its vicinity comes together through striking visuals and beautifully paired soundtrack.

Driven by a fictional narrative, the film shows the various stakeholders that are intertwined with the wetland, from the flora and fauna, illegal residents along its edges, the Government and the people who seek to exploit it. Through its ironic narrative style, the film depicts the contradictions and complexities of the relationship between ecologies and the development of new settlements as the city expands.”

SPECIAL JURY AWARD

PIPE DREAM

Film By: Suraj Katra, Jai Mati, Prachi Adesara & Sitaram Shelar
Mentored By: Avijit Mukul Kishore

JURY CITATION:
“Pipe Dream is commended for its compelling story of the impossible task of obtaining a legal water connection in the settlement of Siddharth Nagar in Mumbai. It presents an ‘other’ Mumbai, and the communities that get pushed to the precarious margins of the city by municipal authority, apathy and sheer neglect.

Jai Mati’s role as a community mobilizer with immense patience helps narrate the journey of bureaucratic delays and the reams of documents required to get access to water in this urban settlement. Following Jai Mati through the day, we see him collecting paperwork to be submitted, following up with government officials and then setting up inspection meetings with the officials and the people of Siddharth Nagar. The film reaches a hopeful conclusion, when we learn that Siddharth Nagar will finally be given a legal water connection after 30 years. Pipe Dream is a story of hope and patience, tied together with powerful imagery and a compelling protagonist.”

JURY COMMENDATION AWARD

THE CHAVIWALLAHS OF MUMBAI

Film By: Akanksha Gupta and Gopal MS
Mentored By: Avijit Mukul Kishore

JURY CITATION:
“The Chaviwallahs of Mumbai is acknowledged for presenting the disparity in water distribution in a city. The Chaviwallah is used as a metaphor for the various factors that decide whether an individual or community will be given or denied their right to a water connection. Steering through topics like distress migration and political pressures determining access to water connections, the film uses a striking theme to address injustice, showing the disparities in access to water that the city perpetuates through its structures of governance and water management.”

JURY COMMENDATION AWARD

THE MANY JOURNEYS OF WATER

Film By: Niki Nirvikalpa, Sugantha Priscilla &
Prasanth Kumar K
Mentored By: Bina Paul

JURY CITATION:
“The Many Journeys of Water is acknowledged for amplifying the voices of women entrepreneurs involved in the sanitation and water treatment industry in Trichy. The film presents itself as a reportage into the lives of two desludging operators and how they negotiate navigate their roles in the city, negotiating social, political and economic relations of power.”

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

OLAM

Film By: Priyadharshan Anand, Nagendran Arumugam, Arunmani Vasu, Dishon C Prince
Mentored By: Arjun Gourisaria

TEXT DESCRIPTION:
The intervention of the Government & private industrial ambitions on the ecological corridor of Ennore has created an environmental crime scene, depleting the existing natural fabric. Adani’s proposed port expansion will further cripple the region, destroying the remains of every river-based and coastal ecosystem that’s leftover. The film explores the tale of the Kosasthalai river –narrated by Kumaresan, a native fisherman, voicing for the land, the people, its flora and fauna.

The Charles Correa Foundation hosted the Award Ceremony of Nagari Short Film Competitions 2022, addressing the issue of water in urban India.

Moving Mountains centres around issues of dependency, recharge and social-ecological realities shaped by groundwater. It will also dwell on the consequences of coupling land rights with water rights. It aims to explore what this does to disparity in distribution as well as recharge.

Antarjala is about Bengaluru’s changing relationship with water has been a story of urban growth, and also one of intimate change in a community’s relationship with water. The proposal aims to dive into understanding ‘scarcity’ as more than just a natural phenomenon, but also a socially mediated political process.

Navadi is the story of a boat rider who rescues hundreds of people trapped in the flood every year in Kolhapur. The proposal explores the evident reasons of flood as unplanned urbanization and lack of disaster management response.

पानी का खेल (Waiting) seeks to represent water access issues in Mumbai as more than just that. It depicts the all-consuming process of obtaining an official water connection as a resident of an informal settlement, and through that, raises questions of legitimacy, right, and belonging.

फासले (So far, So close) charts instances of disparities in distribution attempting to make palpable, its far reaching consequences. It also aims to unravel the contradiction of distances associated with the ‘urban organism’ – which demands being fed with people & resources from far & wide.

डूबती ईंटे (Sinking Bricks) looks at a family living in a small brick house, surrounded with water on all sides during the rains. This water contains wastewater and industrial waste from the colonies, garbage and rain water which all gets stagnant here. The proposal is about the daily struggle of this family and the many people living here.

நீ ரின்றி அமையாது (Nothing without Water) looks at how water is the most essential component that sustains human life. But we’ve come a long way from thriving around a river’s existence to disrespecting its presence and contributions. This proposal narrates the story of exploitation of Ennore’s rich Creek and Kosasthalaiyar river due to excess encroachments and discharges by government and private industrial ambitions.

শিলসাঁকোৰ উদং বুকু (Remember Xilxaku) is about the ecosystem of Xilxaku Beel, an important wetland in Guwahati is being destroyed to make an artificial concrete eco-park. I met the fairy of the Beel, Jol Kuwori, who was crying helplessly beside her destroyed home.

The Chaviwallahs of Mumbai looks to explore the idea of what makes water move in this city. Who has access to it and who doesn’t. While the keymen control the flow of water by opening and closing of valves, who are the real chaviwallah’s that influence the flow of water in this city.

Bombay Hotel explores the relationship that children of the Bombay Hotel area in Ahmedabad share with water and its accessibility while living next to the city’s largest garbage site.

The Bhavi Project documents open wells as traditional water systems and their changing needs, through the lens of Vaddars, the traditional well-digger community in Bengaluru city. Through engrained stories, the film builds an inquiry towards the sustenance of these open wells and their adaptation to cater to increasing water needs and changing lifestyles.

Aragol looks at the life of the migrant artisanal coracle fishing community whose economies and livelihood solely depend on the Cochin estuary. It will illustrate the paradoxical relationship the community has with the city and its water body.

Bypassing Diaras attempts to document the unique relationship between the residents of Diara and the river Ganga in Patna. Diaras are riverine islands formed between the natural levees of the river as a result of silt deposition. In recent years, there has been a massive push toward infrastructure building, particularly projects concerned with urban mobility. But Diaras continue to face mobility challenges due to annual flooding and exclusionary planning.

The Many Journeys of Water is an exploration of the many journeys of water—from fresh to black and grey waters—and the journey of a few women who are intrinsically linked to this journey of water.

FILMMAKERS

Priya Naresh, Palak Patel & Aniket Kolarkar

अख्खा दिन, अख्खी रात (All day and all of the night) Akkha Din, Akkhi Raat

Maharshi Kashyap, Susmita Talukdar, Zeba Zoariah Ahsan, Biswajit Das, Dhruba Hazarika & Koushik Tamilmaran

শিলসাঁকোৰ উদং বুকু (Remember Xilxaku)

Suraj Katra, Jai Mati, Prachi Adesara & Sitaram Shelar

Pipe Dream

Akanksha Gupta and Gopal MS

The Chaviwallahs of Mumbai

Niki Nirvikalpa, Sugantha Priscilla & Prasanth Kumar K

The Many Journeys of Water

Priyadharshan Anand, Nagendran Arumugam, Arunmani Vasu, Dishon C Prince