Abhivyakti 2010 : first day at Ravi Bharati

“Gaon Chodab Nahin!” [We will not leave our villages] was the lilting tune that set the mood for Abhivyakti 2010 – the grassroots documentary festival from Bihar that celebrates subaltern expression. The short music based video by Meghnath and associates covered the core issues of displacement versus politically motivated development: the message was ‘we will not let go our villages, our forests, our mother earth or our struggle’ – a potent and poignant reflection on the harsh realities of our times, that made the students present at the festival sit up and think. The Seminar Whose Right? [supported by ACT India] kicked off the day's events, with Arundhati Roy's interview to CNN-IBN set he tone for debate, followed by the film Mine: Story of a Mountain.The formal inauguration of the festival followed.

Photo shows Vivek Singh addressing the participants at Abhivyakti 2010

“Films must be made to go beyond the obvious, and have relevance for the large body of ordinary viewers,” said Bihar Secretary of Arts, Culture and Youth Affairs Vivek Singh to a relatively young audience of college-going media students on Thursday. He was speaking at the inauguration of Abhivyakti 2010, the 9th Bihar Low Cost Videofest organized at Ravi Bharati Institute of Communication, Patna. He urged the filmmakers of tomorrow to make documentaries that stimulate and speak to audiences.

Director Ravi Bharati Fr Benny Moolan SJ said that one of the main objectives of the video festival was to encourage people of all ages, especially students who are interested in the media to become participatory, critical, and intelligent viewers of media messages. The grassroots videofestival therefore focusses on an exploration of various value systems in contemporary India. The festival has been organised since 1995, and was earlier known as the 'All Bihar VHS Videofest.'

[Students participated actively in the festival seminars and discussions]

The opening film was Mithila Sanskar Geet , directed by Shaker Dutt [producer Bihar Sangeet Natak Academy] which documented the traditional songs that accompany birth and marriage rituals in the Mithilanchal region of the state, several of these colourful practices have begun to disappear, gradually becoming extinct because of rapid urbanisation and migration which are unchecked demographic movements of our times.

[Patna Cine Society President and Director Bihar Film Development Corporation Rajendra Narayan Dash]

Debranjan Sarangi’s film on the Kandhamal carnage and its aftermath “From Hindu to Hindutva” presented the complex cultural, caste based, historical, political, religious and ideological divide in that remote region of Orissa, with tribals, non-tribals, Christians, Militant Hindus, Nature worshipping Tribals, stark poverty, and land rights issues.

[Young people questioned, debated, and critiqued issues - session on Whose Right? - featured Arundhati Roy's interview on CNN - The students expressed a general agrement that India has begun to look and act like a 'fake democracy']

The student films making the most impact on the first evening were Bridging The Gap [Shilpi Gulati and Shranaya Gautam, Media and Cultural Studies, TISS, Mumbai] – a film with animated symbols that made an appeal for holistic primary education, and Inside Out (Edited Version),[ Divya Cowasji, Shilpi Gulati] – which asked the question: How thin is the line of acceptable conduct for a woman in public, can she ever cross the line? Can a woman ever access public spaces as freely as a man? Other films shown and appreciated in the very short film category (under five minutes) were Dowry ‘Heavier Then Life’ , [Mehrazun Neesa Haque, Patna Women’s College], Hamara Adhikar [Kunal Kumar and Vikram Kumar, Advantage Media Academy, Patna] and Kisse Kahu, [Pankaj Kumar Jha, Manish Kumar, Samdarshi Priyam, Harikesh, AMA, Patna].