Jul 06 2024 to Jul 07 2024 10 a.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Carbon has been an invisible protagonist on the celluloid screen for a while now. Our lives are saturated with carbon, and the screen reflects its presence everywhere. Though unseen, carbon’s influence permeates our lives and finds reflection in countless stories on the big screen. This festival invites you on a journey from the barren grounds of an e-waste dump yard to the magical forests of the Western Ghats. We will showcase a distinctive collection of cinematic narratives centered on the theme of carbon and bring to life stories that span generations, reflecting both the past and the ever-evolving present. These stories of ambition, resilience, and perseverance will offer a deeper understanding of carbon and films, shedding light on the transformative power of carbon. The festival strives to create an immersive environment where visitors can deeply interact with these ideas through various films and discussions. We are offering a wide array of films spanning different languages, including German, English, French, and Hindi, and genres, from documentary features and narrative features to experimental shorts and animated shorts. Filmmakers and scholars have been encouraged to create a colorful, interactive space that encourages people of all ages to consider carbon’s critical role in our lives and the global ecosystem. Festival Schedule: Download the full schedule here. Day 1 | 6 July | Saturday | 10:00 am – 8:00 pm 10:00 am – 10:05 am: Opening address by SGB team 10:05 am – 11:40 am: All that Breathes Documentary Feature | Hindi with English Subtitles | India | Shaunak Sen As legions of birds fall from New Delhi’s skies and the city smoulders with social unrest, two brothers race to save one of the casualties: a majestic black kite, a bird of prey essential to their city’s ecosystem. 11:40 am – 12:30 pm: Discussion with Shaunak Sen and Suhel Quader 12:30 pm – 1:11 pm: Ocean Mud Pickle Documentary Feature | Oriya with English Subtitles | India | Paribartana Mohanty The abandoned village of Satabhaya, often submerged by natural disasters and rising sea levels, is a place of memory and speculation. Near Bhitarkanika crocodile reserve and Gahirmatha Beach, its future might be as a wildlife sanctuary or underwater habitat. This video explores Satabhaya’s climate stories and ‘queering’ process through archives, memories, and maps, transforming interviews and field notes into poetry and Daskathia folk songs and dance. 1:11 pm – 2:00 pm: Break 2:00 pm – 2:13 pm: We Held Our Breath Short | United Kingdom | Matthew Denham Informed by the historic and contemporary carbon-intensive industries of North East England, this experimental video surveys a landscape altered by industrial cycles and the values of growth and extraction. It captures three years of complex conversations with local communities, reflecting on potential futures. Through scenes of production, consumption, and waste, it serves as a metaphor for living with the environmental crisis we’ve created. 2:13 pm – 2:14 pm: On the Surface Experimental Short | India | Jayasri Sridhar & Amal Zen On the surface, lichens appear as unsightly patches on city roofs, often unnoticed. Yet, they play a crucial role in the carbon cycle, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. Sensitive to pollution, lichens are the first to die when contamination rises. This film examines this remarkable organism. The sound design captures human activities emitting carbon essential for lichens’ survival and pollutants signaling their demise. 2:14 pm – 4:53 pm: Not Just Roads Documentary Feature | Hindi with English subtitles | India | Nitin Bathla & Klearjos Papanicolaou A massive urban transformation is underway in India, with highways being built at a rapid 23 kilometers per day under the Bharatmala program. This aims to open new territories for the emerging middle class. Criss-crossed by native trails and ecological commons, this film captures the story of one such highway outside Delhi from the perspective of both human and non-human actors. 4:53 pm – 5:30 pm: Break 5:30 pm – 6:53 pm: Planet Soil Documentary Feature | English | Mark Verkork 6:53 pm – 7:14 pm: This Mortal Plastik Documentary Short | Dutch with English Subtitles | Jess Irish 7:14 pm – 8:00 pm: Curated by ALTEFF Day 2 | 7 July | Sunday | 11:00 am – 8:00 pm 11:00 am – 11:13 am: Nuisance Bear Documentary Short | English | Canada | Jack Weisman, Gabriela Osio Vanden Churchill, Manitoba, is famous as an international destination for photographing polar bears. We’ve seen the majestic images and classic wildlife series captured here – but what do these bears see of us? Through a shift in perspective, Nuisance Bear reveals an obstacle course of tourist paparazzi and wildlife officers whom bears must navigate during their annual migration. 11:13 am – 11:38 am: Haul Out Documentary Short | Russian with English Subtitles | Russia | Maxim Chakilev On a remote coast of the Siberian Arctic in a wind-battered hut, a lonely man waits to witness an ancient gathering. But warming seas and rising temperatures bring an unexpected change, and he soon finds himself overwhelmed. 11:38 am – 12:11 pm: Carbon and Captivity Documentary Feature | German with English Subtitles | Germany | Oliver Ressler Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is promoted as a solution to global warming by storing CO₂ in sub-seabed formations, but it remains immature, with cracks found in North Sea storage rocks. Filmed at Norway’s Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM), the film shows how CCS could delay decarbonisation and increase fossil fuel dependence. The title refers to humanity’s “captivity” within capitalism’s extractivism. 12:11 pm – 1:18 pm: Augmented Organism Pentaptych Dance Film | Finland | Cy Gorman Augmented Organism is a stunning collaborative transnational dance-film and sustainable social design project between Cy Gorman (Australia) and Jazmyne Geis (USA). The project brings together experimental narrative filmmaking, contemporary dance, technology, and social and environmental activism in dialogue with world wisdom traditions and mythology. 1:18 pm – 2:00 pm: Break 2:00 pm – 2:10 pm: Wade Animated Short | India | Upamanyu Bhattacharyya In a version of Kolkata, India rendered uninhabitable by sea level rise, things take a dark turn when a family of climate change refugees are ambushed by a tiger on the flooded streets. 2:10 pm – 2:17 pm: Spirit of the Forest Animated Short | Kannada with English Subtitles | India | Nirupa Rao Walking home from school, a little girl stumbles into a sacred grove near her village in south India. Here, she disturbs the grove’s resident spirit, who takes her on an adventure illuminating the evolution of this ancient swamp. It is inspired by indigenous practices of protecting relict forests through folklore grounded in ecological principle. 2:17 pm – 2:23 pm: Autosaurus Rex Animated Short | French with English Subtitles | Switzerland | Marcel Barelli Among the different species that inhabit our planet, one stands out from the others by its power and its impact on ecosystems. It is the Autosaurus Rex. 2:23 pm – 2:30 pm: The Chimney Swift Animated Sort | English | Germany | Frédéric Schuld 19th century in Europe: a child climbs up a chimney while a bird sails down into it to build a nest. An encounter with no way back. 2:30 pm – 3:15 pm: Into the Carbonverse: Exploring the World of Animated Films | A Discussion with Fabian Driehorst, Nirupa Rao, Aniruddh 3:15 pm – 3:36 pm: Mountain Man Documentary Short | Bhutanese with English Subtitles | Bhutan | Arun Bhattarai Phuntsho Tshering, Bhutan’s only glaciologist, climbs sacred mountains annually to measure melting glaciers. His 11-year-old daughter, Yangchen, sees him disappear for months, fearing he disturbs the ‘snow lion’s’ home. Despite local warnings, Phuntsho continues his vital work to document climate change and protect the snow lion’s vanishing habitat, sharing his journey with Yangchen through phone videos. 3:36 pm – 4:15 pm: Break 4:15 pm – 6:10 pm: The Road to Kuthriyar Narrative Feature | Tamil and English | India | Bharat Mirle In “The Road to Kuthriyar,” a wildlife researcher and a tribesman form an unlikely friendship while navigating the complexities of a resettled tribal community in India, blending real conditions and staged events to authentically portray their intertwined lives. 6:10 pm – 8:00 pm: Tortoise Under the Earth Narrative Feature | Santhali with English Subtitles | India | Shishir Jha In a uranium mining area of Jharkhand, India, a tribal couple mourns their daughter, finding solace in the land and forest. Tortoise Under The Earth explores the deep connections between tribal communities and their traditional home, weaving together vivid festivals, folk songs, and a strong sense of community in a poetic elegy to a world vanishing due to unchecked development and displacement. In collaboration with: Science Gallery Bengaluru (SGB) is a not-for-profit public institution for research-based engagement targeted at young adults working at the intersection of the human, natural, and social sciences, and engineering, art, and design. SGB’s public engagement model moves beyond participation, and towards proactive involvement through ever-changing research festivals anchored by interdisciplinary exhibitions, programmes, and public events consisting of research-based engagements led by artists and scholars from diverse backgrounds. SGB is established with the founding support of the Government of Karnataka and three academic partners—Indian Institute of Science, National Centre for Biological Sciences, and Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology.