FILMS
JOHAR WELCOME TO OUR WORLD
Directed by Nilanjan Bhattacharya | Hindi with English subtitles | 58 minutes
For many people in India the word `food’ means little other than what you eat to survive. A large section of these poorest of the poor are tribals or adivasis. Johar Welcome to Our World focuses on Jharkhand in eastern India, the home for thirty-two adivasi communities. These adivasis, have an old and dynamic dependence on their local forests from where they get a significant portion of their core nutrition and medicinal material. They have been engaged in a symbiotic relationship with the forests that deeply influences their social, religious and cultural expressions.
Johar Welcome to Our World, explores the intricate relationship the adivasis of Jharkhand have with their forests. The film documents traditional recipes, the medicinal qualities of various herbs, weeds and fruits and the traditional knowledge of their sustainable management by the adivasis. The film also lays how mindless, aggressive development and the government's wrong-headed conservation policies have damaged the tribals’ relationship with their land and pushed them ever deeper into food insecurity.
The film is an attempt to draw attention towards an overlooked but rich and environmentally sustainable food culture that is hugely significant for a country like India. It received the National Film Award for Best Narration (Writing) in 2010 and has been screened at Tribal Conclave, Jamshedpur, ZEF Bonn University, University of Göttingen, and AEIN, Luxembourg.
SEASONS OF LIFE - FORAGING AND FERMENTING BAMBOO-SHOOT DURING CEASEFIRE
Directed by Dolly Kikon | Lotha Naga with English subtitles | 11 minutes 47 seconds
On a summer morning in August, Tsumungi and Pithunglo are off to the bamboo grooves in the forests of Ralan, a village in Wokha District of Nagaland. They call out to Yanchano to join them to harvest fresh bambooshoot along with them. They are a team.
Thousands of women in Northeast India forage and ferment food such as herbs, beans, and tender bambooshoot. The months for foraging tender bambooshoot depends on the elevations in this part of the Himalayan region. Foragers from mountaintop villages enter the forest by June looking for tender shoots to harvest, while across the middle and lower elevation the bambooshoot season extends until August.
Fermented bambooshoot is a delicacy as well as an everyday staple for many communities across Northeast India. It is an integral part of the food culture and links the region to its Southeast Asian and East Asian neighbours. In Nagaland and its neighbouring states like Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Sikkim, and Mizoram, bambooshoot is used in various forms: fresh, soaked in brine, and dried. As Pithunglo tells us, “Bambooshoot is like a spice to the Lotha Nagas.”
Seasons of Life follows Tsumungi, Pithunglo, and Yanchano, as they labour to forage and ferment tender bambooshoot, a food item cherished across several Himalayan households in South Asia.
In collaboration with the Bangalore International Centre