Kamar Ahmad Simon’s feature-length documentary Are You Listening! is interesting both for its subject matter – the micro-effects of the macro-phenomenon of climate change – as well its visual sweep. Shot over a three-year-period, it follows a family that was displaced by a cyclone in 2009 and has relocated to a bund along with hundreds of others. As Soumen, Rakhi and their son Rahul wait to return to their home, they build a new life in Sutarkhali village.
Earlier this month, Are You Listening! became the guinea pig in a new experiment to popularise documentary film. Enthusiasts have used all kinds of channels to take non-fiction films to new audiences: free screenings, pay-per-view websites, DVDs, theatrical distribution. On October 2, a new documentary filmmakers’ network called Indidoc tried another approach. It streamed the Bangladeshi filmmaker award-winning film for free to more than 30 film clubs across India. The film was uploaded on the video-sharing website Vimeo on October 2 and the password made available to all the groups.
Seeking wider audiences
The film has been shown in several Indian cities before, but this simulcast has the potential of greatly widening its audience. “Imagine in the coming days how much sharing this simple but brilliant initiative can bring,” Simon said in an email message.
His carefully chosen characters are easy on the eye and have engaging personalities. Rahul is a mischievous tot who explores the village on foot with his buddies. His parents make do with what they have – Rakhi lines up for water and keeps house, while Soumen participates in construction projects aimed at protecting the village from never-ending storms. In true observational style, Simon eschews a voiceover and sticks closely to his characters. The film opens out to include the experiences of Soumen’s fellow victims, all of whom display tremendous fortitude in the face of government neglect.
Simon originally intended to conduct research for a feature film on the subject. “Before I knew, I ended up travelling a stretch of almost 200 kilometres in a local boat until I came to this very village where I shot the film,” he said. The filmmaker and several observers have drawn comparisons between the documentary’s evocative riverine imagery and the films of Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak. “I have been a great admirer of classics like Titas Ekti Nadir Naam by Ritwik Ghatak and Pather Panchali by Satyajit Ray,” Simon explained.
Beautiful landscape
The natural beauty of the landscape cannot hide or help the family’s dipping fortunes, nor can it provide protection from the relentlessly hostile weather conditions. One of the film’s most powerful scenes is of Rakhi waging a losing battle with a downpour that buffets her hut. “I have been a city dweller until I started this film, and living in a box, I had forgotten about the seasons and its changes,” Simon said. “Once I started travelling, I realised that every bit of these people’s lives are intertwined with the changes of seasons and the weather.” He visited Sutarkhali several times to be at hand when the weather changed. The disorganised nature of the shoot meant that he couldn’t rely on professional crews – a reality that he says liberated him and helped created the documentary’s hand-held, verite narrative style.
After gathering 170 hours of footage, Simon finally decided to stop the shoot when the villagers started returning to their lands. The weather didn’t let up or disappoint even in the last stretch of the shoot. “When my protagonists started rebuilding their new house, another threatening storm broke in, and I witnessed a moment when everything came back to the same point where it started,” Simon said. “Just like when you draw a circle, it comes back to the same point, and you can only keep drawing another layer to start a new one.”
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Earlier this month, Are You Listening! became the guinea pig in a new experiment to popularise documentary film. Enthusiasts have used all kinds of channels to take non-fiction films to new audiences: free screenings, pay-per-view websites, DVDs, theatrical distribution. On October 2, a new documentary filmmakers’ network called Indidoc tried another approach. It streamed the Bangladeshi filmmaker award-winning film for free to more than 30 film clubs across India. The film was uploaded on the video-sharing website Vimeo on October 2 and the password made available to all the groups.
Seeking wider audiences
The film has been shown in several Indian cities before, but this simulcast has the potential of greatly widening its audience. “Imagine in the coming days how much sharing this simple but brilliant initiative can bring,” Simon said in an email message.
His carefully chosen characters are easy on the eye and have engaging personalities. Rahul is a mischievous tot who explores the village on foot with his buddies. His parents make do with what they have – Rakhi lines up for water and keeps house, while Soumen participates in construction projects aimed at protecting the village from never-ending storms. In true observational style, Simon eschews a voiceover and sticks closely to his characters. The film opens out to include the experiences of Soumen’s fellow victims, all of whom display tremendous fortitude in the face of government neglect.
Simon originally intended to conduct research for a feature film on the subject. “Before I knew, I ended up travelling a stretch of almost 200 kilometres in a local boat until I came to this very village where I shot the film,” he said. The filmmaker and several observers have drawn comparisons between the documentary’s evocative riverine imagery and the films of Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak. “I have been a great admirer of classics like Titas Ekti Nadir Naam by Ritwik Ghatak and Pather Panchali by Satyajit Ray,” Simon explained.
Beautiful landscape
The natural beauty of the landscape cannot hide or help the family’s dipping fortunes, nor can it provide protection from the relentlessly hostile weather conditions. One of the film’s most powerful scenes is of Rakhi waging a losing battle with a downpour that buffets her hut. “I have been a city dweller until I started this film, and living in a box, I had forgotten about the seasons and its changes,” Simon said. “Once I started travelling, I realised that every bit of these people’s lives are intertwined with the changes of seasons and the weather.” He visited Sutarkhali several times to be at hand when the weather changed. The disorganised nature of the shoot meant that he couldn’t rely on professional crews – a reality that he says liberated him and helped created the documentary’s hand-held, verite narrative style.
After gathering 170 hours of footage, Simon finally decided to stop the shoot when the villagers started returning to their lands. The weather didn’t let up or disappoint even in the last stretch of the shoot. “When my protagonists started rebuilding their new house, another threatening storm broke in, and I witnessed a moment when everything came back to the same point where it started,” Simon said. “Just like when you draw a circle, it comes back to the same point, and you can only keep drawing another layer to start a new one.”