Thursday, January 31, 2013

Roll.Take.Turn: Documentaries this year.

By Zeba Warsi
From KC College, Mumbai
Posted Jan 19th 2013 7:00AM

Come 21st January and KC College's auditorium will be the venue for Roll.Take.Turn, the annual documentary screening festival, exclusively of KC College's Department of Mass Media. These documentaries are conceptualized, written, directed and produced entirely by Third Year BMM students (Bachelors of Mass Media) as part of their Semester 6 internal assessment.

What makes Roll.Take.Turn extremely different from the other college festivals, is the fact that this is not about song and dance fun but about highlighting contemporary issues that are prevalent in different parts of India. Through these documentaries, the students attempt to create awareness, understand the sufferings and to find out possible solutions to these problems.
They gave up the comfort and luxury of their city lives, to understand the lives these people, who belong to our India, yet their reality is a lot different from ours. Read on to know about the different topics covered this year. Read on to know what awaits you in Roll.Take.Turn.

1. Jambur: In the heart of Gujarat is an isolated village called Jambur situated far away from the city. The people speak Kathiawadi and they dress like everyone else but what sets the Siddis apart is their origin and ethnicity. One glance at them would just make you think of the word 'African'. In 'Jambur' we explore the world of the Siddis of Gujarat and the reasons as to why they have been ignored for so long.

Neha Naidu, TYBMM student, who was moved by her experience while making Jambur, adds, "Jambur is a small, decrepit village in the Gir forest, with everything same like the other villages except for one- it is inhabited by African people who were displaced from their birthland and brought here a couple centuries ago. Their plights need to be heard and that's what this documentary endeavours to do. It was an eye opening and heart warming experience."
2. But, are they willing? : At a distance of of 76.8 kms from Thane is Kothale, a village inhabited by more than 2000 adivasis, the Ma Thakurs being the main community. Women here enjoy rights that their urban counterparts struggle for. But, the village is in a stagnant state due to illiteracy, unemployment, early marriages and pregnancies, malnutrition etc. At such a time, only a change in attitude can save the people.
3. Matrutva.inc: Most married couples think of having and nurturing children whom they can call their own. In this documentary, we bring to you their endeavours to become proud parents including IVF, surrogacy and adoption.
4. Goonj: Laws of the country declare Cannabis (used to make ropes, medicines and Charas) illegal. But there are certain laws of nature, society and culture that state otherwise. The reason is based on social, religious and cultural grounds. Nevertheless, the law has not ceased cultivation. it has just pushed it to secrecy in the higher altitudes as many farmers' and local's livelihoods are at stake.

These were some of the interesting and diverse issues that students will be portraying in their 20 minutes documentaries. Stay tuned to know about the rest of them.
Source: http://www.coolage.in/2013/01/19/roll-take-turn-documentaries-this-year/

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