Gutter Ki Machhli weaves together the voices of the children, youth and women of a rehabilitation and resettlement colony in Govandi, Mumbai through their drawings and poetry to vocalise, localise and visualise their experiences of climate change in their poorly built homes and neighbourhood. The film was made as part of the Arts4Resilience Knowledge Into Use awards 2023 I received from Global Resilience Partnership.
Through the award, a series of arts based research workshops was conducted using multiple mediums including drawings, photography, theatre and poetry to discuss the environmental changes and impacts the residents of Govandi are experiencing in their everyday lives. This film weaves together these experiences to create a local vocabulary for a more inclusive discourse around environmental and climate crises.
If you want to catch a screening or host one, write to me :)
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Stills of the film
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Arts based workshops
The film came together after a series of arts-based research workshop facilitated with the children, youth and women of Govandi. The workshop modules were designed keeping drawing, poetry, photography and theatre as approaches to bring to surface the various experiences of environmental changes that often go unobserved or unvocalised but impact the day to day. This arts based approach to the climate workshop was not only an evidence building tool, but more so an empathetic, non-extractive and participatory method to discuss issues that are otherwise too technical to understand.
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Film and workshop credits:
Directed by Natasha Sharma
Produced by Global Resilience Partnership & Community Design Agency
Voices: Zeenat Shaikh, Wasim Shaikh, Shenaaz Khan, Umair Shaikh, Parveen Shaikh, Hidaya Ansari, Natasha Sharma, Rehan Malik, Mubashira Shaikh, Kanta Nadar, Mohammad
Drawings by
Shaziya Khan, Ifra Khan, Mubashira Shaikh, Zeenat Shaikh, Aaliya Shaikh, Ayesha Malik, Ayesha Shaikh, Shenaaz Khan, Mahek Khan, Asad Shaikh, Azad Shaikh, Javeria Khan, Sakina Khan, Bushra Khan,Khusboo Khan, Rehan Malik, Wasim Shaikh, Angle Nadar, Sofiya Qureshi, Suman Gangadiya, Pooja Gangadiya, Mahida Ansari, Hidaya Ansari, Zaibun Shaikh, Umair Shaikh, Mohammad
Story contributors
Parveen Shaikh, Kanta Nadar, Yasmeen Shaikh, Kalpana Patil, Saira Bano Shaikh, Kulsum Khan, Ruby Shaikh, Babee Shaikh, Afsana Shaikh, Keshkasha Khan, Samreen Mukri, Shaheen Shaikh, Paru Shetty & Badrunnisa Shaikh
Special thanks to Pankaj Singh Kumar, Aanchal Kapur (Kriti Film Club) and Sandhya Naidu Janardhan
Animation by Triparna Maiti
Sound Design by Kalesh Lakshmanan
Script: Natasha Sharma, Mansi Bhalerao
Photographs: Rajesh Vora , Prachi Metawala
Workshop Facilitators: Natasha Sharma, Nikhil Sharma, Himanshu Meena
Community Organiser: Parveen Shaikh
Coordinators: Sana Shaikh, Tayyaba Darvesh, Mansi Bhalerao
Coordinators: Sana Shaikh, Tayyaba Darvesh, Mansi Bhalerao
Subtitles by: Akanksha Gupta
Audio recording: Sandra Alexander, Sana Shaikh, Affan, Mansi Bhalerao
Rap by Code 43 - Mateen Ansari, Kasim Shaikh, Zaheer Choudhary, Shahid Sayyed
Project by: Community Design Agency, ElemenTree Foundation, Global Resilience Partnership.