Green Film Festival

Organized by : MIT Inst. of Design
Venue : NFAI
Date : 18th to 22nd Jan, 2008
Timings : 3:00pm- 6:00pm

"Youth for Environment" was the title of the Digital Film Festival held at the NFAI by the MIT Institute of Design.
Attending the screenings on the 2nd day to a rather sparse audience of mainly students, among others, I watched a documentary on how Cuba adopted an effective way to tackle their energy crisis, after the collapse of the USSR, through a community centered approach.
The documentary was well received by the audience judging by the response, by way of queries to the architect Mr. Sharad Mahajan, founder of 'Mashaal'. Mr Mahajan professes to follow the footsteps of Laurie Baker, the famous architect who successfully designed low-cost eco-friendly housing (without compromising on aesthetics) in Kerala.
The waking upto a crisis situation was evident in the imploring tone of Mayor Vandana Chavan, who is quite articulate and sensitized to the relevant issues. She admitted that the citizens had a tough battle ahead as they were facing 'powerful lobbies' with 'vested interests' (in reference to a solution to the transportation problem).
Dr. Oza from the PMC gave some mind-boggling statistics related to the overgrowing traffic, pollution levels and their associated cost.
The second documentary by TRIPP, IIT Delhi on how cities across the globe implemented different public transportation schemes and the pros & cons thereof.
Pune is, we're told, at a unique crossroads in it's development history where it can choose effective solutions to it's civic problems.


References:
http://www.communitysolution.org/problem.html#1
http://www.communitysolution.org/poc.html
http://punecorporation.org/informpdf/transport/Tran_Pol_Eng.pdf

Film review

Film Name: Dealer
Director: Benedek Fliegauf

The main protagonist is a drug dealer. What's remarkable about this film is that the usual elements that you would expect are missing. We have the following basic elements in the film - the dealer, the substance he peddles and the consumer. Cold, stark, minimal and desolate, just as the landscape and the general mood of the film.
It's as if we're seeing the outcome of an experiment - almost surgical. The emotive aspect is repressed, almost ruthlessly. The result is an intense build-up, almost claustrophobic that sears through the barren landscape of the film.
Repeated, almost monotonous sounds punctuate and add to this build-up.
The viewer is forced to make sense, cerebrally and/or otherwise, to counter the immense void and the slow, but sure and steady, destruction that he witnesses on-screen.

Up at Rajmachi

Made the most of the trekking season this June, 2007. We had a wonderful trek to Rajmachi. The smooth walk all the way to Rajmachi took around 5 hours and we had the time to douse a bottle of beer to get a good headstart ;-). Many such waterfalls were sighted en-route to the base village.
After some good home-cooked lunch we were back on the trail, but this time to Karjat. The descent was pretty steep and aggravated the ligament injury on my knee. The good thing was that it healed itself for good, thereafter.
We got caught in a few more showers on the way down.