Since the dawn of time, storytelling in community has shaped our mindset, our outlook and ultimately, our behaviour. With record heat, oscillating droughts & floods, fires, melting glaciers (and ... you know the rest) our current narrative needs some course correcting.

All Living Things Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF) is back for a 5th edition, pan-India cultural event. Join us at MEDAI for a unique evening of cinema, art & community. Watch award-winning global films on regeneration, activism, resilience and hope and engage in conversations with India’s most inspiring change-makers. Let’s restore the narrative of stewardship, together. All are welcome!

PROGRAM:

4th December, Wednesday

2:00 - 2:45 PM : Stubble - The Farmer's Bane (Shaz Syed | India | 35 mins | English, Punjabi, Hindi | 2024) INDIA PREMIERE

2:45 - 3:15 PM : Burnt Country (Kirsten Slemint | Australia | 17 mins 45 secs | English | 2024) INDIA PREMIERE

3:15 - 4:00 PM : Very special panel discussion on Indigenous care of country. Featuring Burnt Country protagonist & Aboriginal fire keeper James Shaw, visiting from Australia.

This is an unforgettable opportunity to directly access cross-cultural Indigenous knowledge. Not to be missed!

4:00 - 4:20 PM : Requiem for a Whale (Ido Weisman | Israel | 15 mins 27 secs | Hebrew | 2022)

4:20 - 4:35 PM : The Legend of Goldhorn (Lea Vucko | Slovenia | 13 mins 35 secs | No Dialogue | 2022) 

4:35 - 4:50 PM : Crying Glacier (Lutz Stautner, Philipp Becker | Germany, Switzerland | 14 mins 13 secs | English | 2023) INDIA PREMIERE

4:50 - 5:30 PM : Science, Sound, and Story Walk into a PodcastScience, Sound, and Story Walk into a Podcast by Abhijit (Mongabay India) moderated by ALT EFF rep

5:30 - 6:00 PM : Tomorrow, the Burning Heavens (Max Bloching | Germany | 22 mins 06 secs | German | 2024) INDIA PREMIERE

6:00 - 7:00 PM : Disha Swarajyachi (Towards Self-Governance) (Virendra Valsangkar | India | 53 mins 20 secs | Marathi | 2023)

7:00 - 7:45 PM : Community Campaigning: Success Stories and A Pathway to Change Jhatkaa (Speaker: (Divya Narayanan: Executive Director)

7:45 - 9:15 PM : Once Upon a Time in a Forest (Virpi Suutari | Finland | 1 hr 33 mins | Finnish, English | 2024) INDIA PREMIERE

5th December, Thursday

2:00 - 2:20 PM : Lullaby of waves (Ayon Pratim Saikia | India | 15 mins 20 secs | Assamese | 2023) 

2:20 - 2:45 PM : Moon Without a House (Atanur Nabiyeva | Azerbaijan | 22 mins 03 secs | Azerbaijani | 2023) INDIA PREMIERE

2:45 - 3:00 PM : Gopi (Nishanth Gurumurthy | India | 13 mins 50 secs | Kannada | 2022)

3:00 - 3:30 PM : Q&A with Gopi

3:30 - 3:40 PM : Searching for soppu: Foraging food in Bengaluru (Ridah Zaman | India | 9 mins 20 secs | Kannada, English | 2024)

3:40 - 4:45 PM : Foragers (Jumana Manna | Palestine | 1 hr 03 mins | Arabic, Hebrew | 2022) INDIA PREMIERE

4:45 - 5:30 PM : Fungal Entanglements: A Sensory Journey by Fungi Foundation

5:30 - 5:45 PM : Kenya's Desert Alert (David Owino | Kenya | 15 mins 03 secs | English | 2024) INDIA PREMIERE

5:45 - 6:30 PM : The Climate Baby Dilemma (Victoria Lean | Canada | 44 mins | English | 2022) INDIA PREMIERE

6:30 - 6:45 PM : Ullarivu (The Awakening) (Sumi Mathai | India | 14 mins 10 secs | Malayalam | 2023) 

6:45 - 7:30 PM : Moving Into A Climate Solutions Economy: Climate Futures and the role of Forests by Land Conflict Watch

7:30 - 9:00 PM : The Giants (Laurence Billiet, Rachael Antony | Australia | 1 hr 30 mins | English | 2023) INDIA PREMIERE

6th December, Friday

11:00 - 11:20 AM : Covered in mud, buried under myths: Red sand boa illegal trade (Shatabdi Charkraborti | India | 13 mins 32 secs | English, Hindi | 2024)

11:20 - 11:40 AM : Immaculate (Ningjing Wang | China, UK | 15 mins 40 secs | Chinese, English | 2024) INDIA PREMIERE

11:40 - 12:30 PM : A Flaming Forest (Salman Javeed, Satya Ambasta, Vivek Sangwan | India | 48 mins 27 secs | Kannada, English | 2024) INDIA PREMIERE

12:30 - 1:00 PM : Q&A with filmmaker of A Flaming Forest

1:00 - 1:10 PM : Some Thoughts on the Common Toad (G. Anthony Svatek | USA | 10 mins 37 secs | English | 2023)  INDIA PREMIERE

1:10 - 1:30 PM : Wild Summon (Karni and Saul | UK | 14 mins 39 secs | English | 2023) INDIA PREMIERE

1:30 - 1:45 PM : Lunatic Lunatic (Robin Noorda | Netherlands | 16 mins | English | 2024)

1:45 - 2:00 PM : Break

2:00 - 2:15 PM : Covered in mud, buried under myths: Red sand boa illegal trade (Shatabdi Charkraborti | India | 13 mins 32 secs | English, Hindi | 2024)

2:15 - 2:30 PM : Immaculate (Ningjing Wang | China, UK | 15 mins 40 secs | Chinese, English | 2024) INDIA PREMIERE

2:30 - 3:15 PM : Crisis of Consumption: India’s Overwhelming Waste Problem and What We Can Do About It by Consumers for Sustainability 

3:15 - 4:30 PM : Nenets vs Gas (Sergio Ghizzardi | France, Belgium, Norway, Finland | 1 hr 14 mins | English, Russian, Nenets | 2023) INDIA PREMIERE

4:30 - 5:00 PM : ALT EFF Voices: With prompts and/or select curation provided by us, this is an open-mic for audiences to express themselves

NON FILM PROGRAM: 

ALT EFF Voices

ALT EFF Voices is a dynamic spoken-word platform that will be a key feature of our annual festival, providing a space for individuals to share their personal stories, thoughts, and observations on the pressing environmental challenges we face today. With ALT EFF Voices' inaugural edition during ALT EFF 2024, we hope people of all ages and backgrounds will feel free to channel their grief, anger, hope, and passion into powerful yet creative messages about our environment.

Fungal Entanglements: A Sensory Journey by Fungi Foundation

‘Fungal Entanglements: A Sensory Journey’ is an immersive workshop that bridges art, science, and traditional ecological knowledge to explore the fascinating world of fungi. This multisensory experience, facilitated by Malavika Bhatia and Prithvi Kini of Fungi Foundation, is designed to engage participants with the often-overlooked realm of fungi, emphasising their ecological roles and relationships with other organisms, including humans.

The workshop takes participants on a unique fungal adventure, engaging all five senses to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of fungi. By intertwining scientific knowledge with sensory experiences and creative expression, the workshop aims to transform participants' perceptions of fungi from potential disgust to wonder and curiosity.

Through a series of interactive stations, participants will explore fungal diversity, examine specimens under microscopes, experience various fungal scents and textures, taste edible mushrooms, and even listen to mushroom-generated music. The workshop culminates in an embodied activity where participants creatively express fungal relationships, fostering a personal connection to these remarkable organisms.

Speaker’s Bio:

Prithvi Kini is an entrepreneur, yoga practitioner, citizen scientist, and mental health advocate with a deep interest in the therapeutic benefits of mushrooms. As the co-founder of Nuvedo, India's pioneering functional mushroom start-up, her vision is for people to reclaim control of their lives through mushrooms. Through Nuvedo, she forges connections with local farming communities and myriad mycophiles across India and is fostering a mushroom revolution that goes beyond the world of business. With Fungi Foundation India, she's on a mission to revolutionize India's allyship with fungi, not just on a plate but in policy as well. With a commitment to conservation, her interests focus on ethical biodiversity research and Indian ethnomycological exploration. Her vision is to create a kinder, authentic and more accepting India through the power of fungi and applying to rekindle a ‘more-than-human’ outlook on our ways of life.

Malavika Bhatia is a forager, artist, and community facilitator who weaves together ethnomycological research, community-based practices, and theoretical frameworks to reimagine relationships in the more-than-human world. Their art practice inhabits spaces of decay and decomposition, viewing these processes not as endpoints but as vital sites of regeneration and possibility. Through programs with Science Gallery Bengaluru, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Sandbox Collective, Serendipity Arts Festival, and others, they create participatory experiences that invite audiences to consider how fungal networks can serve as both metaphor and method for reimagining community relationships and ecological entanglements.

Community Campaigning: Success Stories and A Pathway to Change

The session will be a deep-dive into the importance of engaging with communities for grassroots advocacy initiatives and impactful public mobilization through digital media. Jhatkaa.org will reflect on learnings from its successful campaigns that have harnessed the power of community support to create impact on a range of issues including environmental issues, social justice, and better urban planning. Additionally, successful local campaign case studies will also be shared

Speaker’s Bio: Divya is the Executive Director of Jhatkaa.org, where she leads efforts to build an equitable, inclusive, and sustainable India. With a Master's degree in Public Health and Human Rights, Divya has over 12 years of experience working at the intersection of grassroots activism and digital advocacy, addressing critical issues in climate change, public health, and social justice.

At Jhatkaa.org, she works with a team of campaigners and technologists to design and execute campaigns on a range of issues, including climate change, gender and sexuality, women's rights, and social justice. Jhatkaa.org leverages innovative technology and public mobilization to foster a movement of engaged and progressive Indians, empowering individuals to take collective action for systemic change.

Divya also serves as an advisor and mentor to a regenerative communications agency, a trans rights organization, and other individual changemakers in India.

Mongabay discussion moderated by ALT EFF rep Wild Frequencies at ALT EFF

Science, Sound, and Story Walk into a Podcast

Join Abhijit Shylanath as he presents his experience working as a sound designer for Mongabay India’s Wild Frequencies. In this session, Abhijit will reveal the art and science behind using sound as the focal point to drive stories, creating impactful narratives without visuals. He will discuss the sound design process, editing techniques, and the essential role of editorial support in crafting powerful audio narratives. Abhijit brings unique insights on how to balance artistic storytelling with journalistic integrity, offering valuable lessons in creating compelling soundscapes that resonate with listeners.

Speaker’s Bio

Abhijit Shylanath is a self-taught musician, producer, and audio editor. He has been making original music since age five and has a broad sonic palette from folk to indie rock to cinematic scores. Qualified as a computer engineer, he chose to work instead as a studio producer. He has 20+ years of experience making music for movies, corporate identities, events, video games, and ad campaigns. He is particularly interested in podcasts as a medium of communicating ideas and data, and believes that they have, like music, a deceptively long history of oral tradition behind them.

Crisis of Consumption: India’s Overwhelming Waste Problem and What We Can Do About It 

What do fast fashion and animal agriculture have in common? This talk dives into the hidden impacts of our everyday choices and their toll on the environment. From the dyes in our clothing to the materials we often overlook, consumption patterns are driving a crisis. Color Ashram Foundation brings awareness to the toxic dyes used in the fashion industry and the massive waste created as a result. Consumers for Sustainability highlights the environmental costs of animal-derived materials like wool, leather, and silk—showing how these products consume water, pollute air and soil, and deplete precious land resources. Join us to discover the real costs behind these industries and explore pathways toward more sustainable choices.

Speaker’s Bio:

Seemanthini C. is the Project Coordinator at Consumers for Sustainability, an initiative dedicated to promoting consumer protection and fostering sustainable practices across sectors. With a background in biotechnology and a wealth of experience in organising educational camps and outreach programs, she is a strong advocate for capacity and community building. She believes these are essential tools for creating a ripple effect that strengthens the sustainability movement and inspires meaningful change.

Moving Into A Climate Solutions Economy: Climate Futures and the role of Forests by Land Conflict Watch

India has announced that it would create an additional carbon sink of 3.0 billion tonnes by increasing forest cover by 2030. To achieve this, the country has put in place a dedicated policy to carry out afforestation to compensate for the forests it loses to industries and other project developers. However, how well has this panned out on the ground? Forest communities, who had to give up forest lands that they were dependent on to industries years ago, are now being displaced again as the state is struggling for land to meet its afforestation target. Has the role of forests been reduced to only carbon sequestration?  

Speaker’s Bio

Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava 

Founder & Director, Land Conflict Watch

Kumar Sambhav is a social entrepreneur and award-winning journalist, leading innovative research in accountability investigations. He is the founder of Land Conflict Watch and is currently working as India Research Lead with Princeton University’s Digital Witness Lab. Kumar co-founded The Reporters’ Collective, a non-profit journalism collaborative in India and was an inaugural Artificial Intelligence Accountability Fellow with the Pulitzer Center. Kumar has reported for prime global and Indian news outlets, including Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, Business Standard, Hindustan Times, Down To Earth and The Times of India. He has received the prestigious Red Ink Award, the Press Council of India’s National Award for Excellence in Journalism and the Shriram Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism. 

Mrinali 

Advisor & Climate Research Lead, Land Conflict Watch

Mrinali K works as Advisor & Climate Research Lead, Land Conflict Watch. Her research focuses on issues of climate change and resource conflicts. For more than 6 years now, she has studied issues around land and resource conflicts, working with journalists and researchers to conduct research around the land conflict database. She has also tracked and reported on international climate change negotiations since 2022.