Sunday Times 2
‘H2O’, ‘Money and Water’ and ‘Hope through a Hole’: Three films that said it all on Water Day
Within a matter of seven minutes, trees are felled, wild animals are displaced, cities are built and finally the much awaited rain comes in torrents drowning people and properties of the newly emerged urban concrete jungle. The winner of the WARSHA National Film award and RAIN International Film award–‘H2O’ by Fathima Shanaz–finely encapsulates an entire vicious cycle engineered by man. This, she achieves in less than ten minutes with only visual and auditory images. With zero dialogue, H2O transcends age and cultural differences, realizing the universality of the cinematic medium which is valid more than ever before at a time when climate change is the norm.
Three short films- ‘H2O’, ‘Money and Water’ and ‘Hope through a Hole’ screened last Wednesday at the American Centre to mark the World Water Day falling on March 22, spoke for the role of arts in creating a dialogue on social realities affecting everyone, beyond policy level discussions. The event was organised by the Lanka Rain Water Harvesting Forum (LRWHF) together with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). LRWHF implements projects to enable safe, disaster-resilient drinking water in flood and drought prone areas of the country which is supported by the USAID. Under this project LRWHF supported ten young film-makers to produce short films on water and their scripts were selected for pre-production by USAID and SKY Entertainers. Several experts from the film industry were engaged to build the capacity of these budding film makers and develop their story lines.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Executive Director, LRWHF, Dr. Tanuja Ariyananda said that the film competition was a creative tool used by them to create more awareness on rain water harvesting (RWH), aligned with their mandate of promoting and building capacity on the RWH technology through facilitating, sharing and exchanging of knowledge. “Apart from creating awareness, we also aspired to attract a different audience that subscribes to the electronic media rather than traditional print media,” said Dr. Ariyananda who went on to note that mobilizing young audiences to address national concerns such as the water issue and other similar concerns is the need of the hour.
The response to the film competition had been quite overwhelming, says Dr. Ariyananda. “Out of nearly 60 applicants we received, ten best scripts were selected and eight workshops were organized for them to further develop the scripts.” The workshops were supported by resource persons drawn from multiple sectors including cinematography and water management. The initiative, as the researcher says, has been a “mutual learning experience” as well. The prize money for the best three finalists was divided to develop their scripts into short films. “This enables us to support amateur artistes who usually get neglected due to lack of funds and other resources,” says Dr. Ariyananda who urges that this exercise be replicated through other creative media including drama and photography.
As the winner Fathima Shanaz, a lecturer in communication and media studies, researcher and film maker, noted, during the panel discussion which followed the film screening, “restoring the environment after a 30-year ravaging war is another battle itself!” Localizing the global dilemma of water crisis, through native motifs of fauna, flora and multi-cultural motifs, her production had Pradeep Chandrasiri’s innovative illustrations.
A young film maker with several previous short films to his credit, Rahula Jayasekara’s 14-minute production, ‘Money and Water’ was a stark exposition of those who lose their right to get a drop of water even for money among people who take this life source for granted. The storyline illustrated Lankan values of hospitality, best manifested at rural level. The film was also recognized at Inshort Film Festival Lagos, Nigeria
‘Hope through a Hole’ by Eranga Gunasinghe, a promising cinematographer, which made it to the Rain International Nature Film Festival as well, is a tale of a father and daughter who yearn for water in the parched land. Hoping to catch the waters from heaven in every possible container, the young girl covers every corner of her garden with empty tins, earthen pots and cups.
“All these films are touring, which speak for the fact that they are transcending national boundaries and the exercise also manifests that, today the world is moving towards film funds rather than focusing on traditional single-person productionsm,” cinematographer Dhanushka Gunathilake observed.
Stills from 'Money and Water' (top) and 'Hope through a Hole' (above)
Pix credit: Lanka Rain Water Harvesting Forum