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Attachments (film synopsis, and invitation letter) pasted in below,
Begin forwarded message:
> Dear Beckie,
>
>
>
> I arranged to get my MP to sponsor the launch of BACK TO THE
> VILLAGE, (see attached invitation). a documentary based on the
> background research I conducted in South India.(see attached
> synopsis). The film should be of interest to anthropologists
> interested in development problems. I therefore hope you will give
> it as wide publicity as you possibly can among the postgraduates on
> your list..
>
> As I have to hand a list of expected guests to the Parliamentary
> security authorities before the event I am afraid it is necessary
> that everybody who wants to attend this film launch will let me
> know their intention of coming.
>
> Thanks for your help,
>
> Scarlett
>
>
>
>
>
> Dr. T. Scarlett Epstein OBE
>
> Director: PEGS (Practical Education & Gender Support)
>
> 5, Viceroy Lodge, Kingsway, HOVE BN3 4RA England
>
> Tel: +44 (0)1273-735151
>
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Back to the village
A thought provoking documentary film
South Indian villages have been an almost closed world unto
themselves for centuries …..this is no longer the case. Globalization
has paved the way for cheap imports, handicrafts have been replaced
by plastic goods, with the consequent loss of livelihood. Less land,
less water, and a massive population growth is forcing millions of
villagers into the cities in search of work. While the south Indian
city of Bangalore has been lauded as the world’s new IT capital,
there is a dark side: two million slum dwellers, one quarter of its
population, doesn’t have running water let alone a computer.
The film’s major theme centres on the causes and results of rural-
urban migration, a phenomenon that is strangling capitals in filth
and its dwellers in misery in the developing world, as governments,
pushed on by investment, in India and elsewhere, rush to build
industrial centres, draining much needed funding to the rural sector.
The film is also a study of resilient Indian people, and age-old
friendships, and takes us on a journey, where we experience the
survival strategies for several rural societies, through the eyes of
villagers themselves.
We visit a Bangalore garment industry geared for export to the US
with a comfortable profit margin, thanks to an abundance of cheap
labour. All coming from the outlying villages, each worker makes 25
US cents per finished shirt, which then retails for US 35$ in our
nearest department store. The simple math begs the question: what
role do the developed countries and their investment strategies play
in the increasingly imbalanced development that continues to take
place between city and countryside in India?
Back to continue her unique anthropological study begun and followed
up regularly since 1954, Professor T. Scarlett Epstein, helps us to
trace the developments in two villages in south India’s Karnataka
state. These two villages, one with access to a canal irrigation
system, the other dependent on scarce rainfall, developed on
different paths, but today share a common denominator…loss of
population due to migration.
These village people, some were only children when Professor Epstein
first arrived, tell their own stories of the gradual loss of
livelihood, and their attempts to adapt to the changes wrought by
globalisation. We follow T. Thimmegowda, a small boy when Professor
Epstein arrived in his village of Mangala fifty years ago. Now a high-
ranking official, he never turned his back on his village. Over the
years his efforts have resulted in a school, hospital, sewage system
and dam facility. These, he is convinced, will help pave the way for
the start of a “growth centre” which it is expected can help retain
the village population. Meanwhile, there are tough choices to be
made. The film presents the dilemma of remaining in an impoverished
village or staking out for the capital, win or lose. Some villagers
have fared well, others are barely hanging on..
We meet Ramana, a dalit (Scheduled Caste), who moved from his
village to a Bangalore slum. He’s is a marble polisher who lives in a
dank room with three others and earns two US dollars a day. He
suffers the wrath of his mother when he comes home empty-handed to
his native village from the city. Kempegowda, on the other hand had a
friend in the city, enabling him to start a small video company…. a
one-time peasant, he’s now graduated to the ranks of the middle class.
Together they and other villagers, Indian academics and politicians,
anthropologists and filmmakers, economists and philosophers, share
their views and reflect on the country’s present path to development,
making suggestions on ways of redressing the ever widening divide
between city and village in India.
The film is intended to be a valuable tool for discussion on today’s
priorities in funding for donor agencies and stakeholders… a sober
look at the growing migration dilemma of south Indian villagers’ seen
from their own perspectives.
The film is intended to be a thought provoking, a deeper look at the
consequences of an all too consuming emphasis on economic growth at
all costs, in the hope that this will benefit the poorest in the
society, when without an equitable distribution of resources, those
same people will continue to become increasingly disenfranchised and
marginalized. The Indian reality is that today 75% of the population,
its poorest…live in the village.
Length: 26 min. Professional DVCAM video (TV broadcast quality)
Producers and Directors: Richard Wasserman and Nagathihalli
Chandrashekar
Consultants: Professor T. Scarlett Epstein and Mr. T. Thimmegowda. IAS
PEGS (PRACTICAL EDUCATION & GENDER SUPPORT)
extend an invitation to
………………………………………………………………………….
for the Launch of the 26 minute DOCUMENTARY FILM
BACK TO THE VILLAGE
and the subsequent discussion of the important issues it raises.
The Launch is sponsored by the RT. Hon. Celia Barlow MP
It will be chaired by Mark Goldring, Chief Executive of VSO
It will take place on 16 July 2007 at 17.00 hrs
in Grimmond Room of Portcullis House, Bridge Street,
LONDON SW1A 2LW
Please RSVP to:
Dr. T. Scarlett Epstein OBE
Director: PEGS (Practical Education & Gender Support)
5, Viceroy Lodge, Kingsway, HOVE BN3 4RA England
Tel: +44 (0)1273-735151
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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