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By Huned Contractor There are many who love to theorise and indulge in academic debate when it comes to issues concerning social development and related themes. This fact is more than evident at the World Social Forum 2004 (WSF) being held in Mumbai from January 16 to 21. But there is always one group, thankfully so, that would rather let reality do the talking. Meet the documentary filmmakers who came together to showcase their work at the WSF. "Our task was to select films which would be aligned with the central theme of the forum and show how imperialist globalisation, patriarchy, militarism, communalism, casteism and racism have affected the lives of the common people. Out of the 300 entries received by us, we have chosen 83 films and these, in particular, tend to focus on resistance rather than on exploring alternatives. Some of them do explore, of course, and therefore there is a special section devoted to it called 'Other Worlds Are Breathing', which is inspired by author Arundhati Roy's closing words in her speech to the last social forum in Porto Alegre," says Gargi Sen, an organising committee member of the festival. And so, as the halls darkened through the day and into the evening, a film that really stirred intelligent debate and shook the conscience was The Corporation , directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbot. The film is the result of six years of patient research, not to mention funding difficulties, but, as Achbar puts it: "It had to be done because the Corporation, like the Church and Monarchy in other times and places, has come to play a very dominant role in our lives." Moving through layers of how multinational companies have come to lay down stringent laws that dictate our lifestyles, the film invites players, pawns and pundits on a graphic and engaging quest to reveal the corporation's inner workings, curious history, controversial impact and possible future. "The Corporation has crushed, belittled or absorbed us all into some new order," says Achbar.  Divided into sections such as The Global Market, A World of Work and Survival, A World At War, The World Abused, Life, Politics and Struggle, The Woman's World, Identities, Culture or Resistance, Other Worlds Are Breathing and Local World or India, the festival helped structure a platform for opinions, arguments and perspectives on how we have allowed ourselves to be ruled by the demon of globalisation and ever-increasing consumerism. Some films left a lasting impression, such as Diverted To Delhi by Gregory Stitt, which talks about how young Indians working in call centres are forced to put aside their cultural identity, modify their accents, change their names and take on the personality of whoever pays the bills. Arlene Ami's Say I Do chronicles the story of three 'mail order brides' from the Philippines now living in Canada facing poverty and victimisation. Suma Josson's Gujarat: A Laboratory of Hindu Rashtra focuses on post-violence Godhra, the fury that engulfed Gujarat in March 2002 when more than 2,000 Muslims lost their lives. And Naata , directed by Anjali Monteiro and K P Jayasankar of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which investigates the work of Bhau Korte and Waqar Khan, two activists and friends who have been involved in conflict resolution through neighbourhood peace committees in Dharavi, Mumbai, reputedly Asia's largest slum.
 What was interesting was the wide range of themes and stories, whether it was the documentation of co-directors P Baburaj and C Saratchandran in Kaippuneeru of the two-year-long local struggle against the multinational Coca-Cola Corporation in Plachimada in Kerala's Palakkad district. Or the focus on continuing resistance to discrimination and oppression by dalit communities, as projected through Gopal Menon's Resilient Rhythms . Or the tragic underlining of how patriarchal Azerbaijani society forces a pregnant woman to abort her child when an ultrasound reveals it to be a girl, as exposed in Ali-Isa Djabbarov's Wishing For Seven Sons And One Daughter .
Similarly, Making A Killing by Kelly Anderson and Tami Gold is a powerful expose on how a cigarette manufacturing company uses its power, size and promotional expertise to spread tobacco addiction internationally. And, not to forget, Anand Patwardhan's controversial War And Peace that was filmed over three tumultuous years in India , Pakistan , Japan and the United States of America , juxtaposing peace activism in the face of global militarism and war. Triggered by macabre scenes of jubilation that greeted nuclear testing on the Indian sub-continent, the film makes a clear statement of where the world is headed. That explains why the creation of 'another world' becomes the urgent requirement of the moment.  It is heart-warming to see the number of documentary filmmakers willing to probe the issues of globalisation and human rights. And this, as directors Peter Wintonick and Katerina Cizek, state in their film Seeing Is Believing: Handicams, Human Rights And The News , is possible because new technologies have transformed human rights work, journalism and international law and justice through what has come to be known as 'video activism'. That's the truth. And not just a theory to be bounced back and forth across the space of a table.
(InfoChange News & Features, January 2004)
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