Jeevika: South Asia Livelihood Documentary Festival 2007

The Jeevika South Asia Documentary Festival started with an inaugural ceremony organized at the Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Delhi on July 20, 2007 and concluded with a closing ceremony at the same venue on July 23. The event, including the days of screening of 26 selected films in two days, July 21-22, 2007 was attended by over 800 hundred people, media, academicians, policy makers, young students & the film makers were present at the ceremony to be a part of the livelihood freedom movement.

The Jeevika South Asia Film Festival, organized by the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) is a search for documentaries that focus on legal and regulatory restrictions as well as socio-cultural hardships that prevent or constrain people from earning an honest livelihood in the vocation of their choice.

People turn to vastly diverse occupations and enterprise in pursuit of a fulfilling livelihood. From snake charmers, to footwear makers, to bar dancers, scrap dealers, elephant mahouts, blacksmith, hawkers, madaris, manhole workers, fisherman, construction labourers, bird catchers, rag pickers, everyone works hard to make a living in this country there are
countless endeavors the common person puts up. Jeevika is a space to recognize, honor and celebrate them. This year, we received 128 films from all across the South Asian Countries as compare to 85 from last year. 26 films were short listed out of these, which would be screened from July 21-22, 2007 at India Habitat Centre, Delhi.

July 20, 2007: Inaugural Ceremony, India Habitat Centre
The inaugural ceremony was inaugurated by Mr. Raza Haider (Filmmaker, Screening Committee Member 2007), Mr. Prashant Bhushan (Eminent Supreme Court Advocate, Social Activist), Mr C.R. Jayasinghe (Sri Lankan High Commissioner) & Dr Parth J shah (President, Centre for Civil Society). Mr.Ajay Maken (Urban Development Minister GOI) was supposed to inaugurate the ceremony gut due to his illness he could not attend it. Mr. Prashant Bhushan remarked" Documentary films are a medium of communicating the stories of the poor people who are suffering. It is wonderful to see how CCS is advocating for the cause of livelihood through documentaries."

Mr. Raza Haider referred to those struggling for livelihood, " Hum toh dariya hain , humein apna hunar maloom hai , jis taraf bhi beh chalenge humein apna raasta mil jaayega." (We are like a river, wherever we flow we will find our way).

Sri Lankan High Commissioner, Mr C.R. Jayasinghe , added, " JEEVIKA is a very important vehicle to make people aware of all kinds of injustice done to poor people. It is surprising to see how all south asian countries have similar policies on livelihood. I would personally like to take the wonderful films nad issues back to Sri Lanka"

As Dr. Parth J Shah concluded, Jeevika festival provides support to entrepreneurs, who are the backbone of our society and educates the public and bring reforms The ceremony reached its peak with a moving performance by the talented group from Manzil Welfare Society.

Screening of Short listed films: July 21-22, 2007
The two days of screening of Jeevika 26 short listed films, India habitat Centre saw amazing response from documentary lovers. Mostly all award winning film makers were present during the screenings. Audience asked many questions related to issue of making of documentary to music choice to clarity on issue. Nandini Bedi , first award winner for Jeevika 2007 "Ambijji's Retirement" remarked and thanked Jeevika for providing such a great platform "This is the first organisation that has taken advocacy so seriously, I wish them luck and provide all my support."

The special feature of the days was that the screening was followed by the discussion and there was a category of "Best Audience Film”, that was awarded to " Baarah Mann ki Dhoban" by Nitesh Bhatia & Vrinda Kapoor.

Closing Ceremony : July 23,2007 India Habitat Centre
The closing ceremony was attended by Mr. P. Chidambaram (Finance Minister, Government of India), Mr. Gurcharan Das (eminent strategist and columnist), Suraj Kumar (UNDP,Jury member 2007) and Dr. Parth J. Shah (President, CCS).
Mr Gurcharan Das chaired the panel. Mr Das remarked" I feel India is no longer poor , it is because of growth we
are experiencing, though numbers don't reflect much. It is important that the liberalisation which has happened in the organised sector should also happen in the unorganised sector"

Mr. Suraj Kumar applauded the Jeevika festival for promoting films for human development and as a powerful voice for change in the human mind.

Mr. Chidambaram who presented the awards said the" I am proud to be here on this festival of documentaries which is organised to discuss issues of livelihood and livelihood freedom. It would provoke people and sensitise them enough to respect the source of livelihood. The livelihood earned by lowest to lowest strata should be respected as without them we can't
survive. India can be liberated from poverty if only we place true economic value on produce of every person." It was encouraging to hear him speak on economic reforms and how as per ex-president Kalam's farewell speech- By 2020, very large proportion of India would be liberated from poverty. Followed by his speech, he presented awards to the award winners.

The first prize winning director of Ambi Jiji's retirement Ms. Nandini Bedi called Jeevika a great platform. "CCS is the only orgnaisationw which is taking documentaries seriously and is making a point to advocate too. I am glad that I became a part of Jeevika and thanks a ton for proving me an opportunity."

The closing ceremony came to a close with a musical performance respectively by the Manzil Welfare Society on the issue of livelihood.