ZAMEEN DOCUMENTARY (2013)

The ZAMEEN documentary pulls you into the heart of a remote Indian community fighting for its way of life. In 2011 a group of artists from Australia and India journeyed deep into India’s Narmada Valley. They met and lived with communities that are gradually being submerged due to large scale dam development in their region. To date over 30 million people have been internally displaced, and the resulting Indigenous activist movement – the Narmada Bachao Andolan – has become one of the most successful and sophisticated in contemporary history.

This documentary is the companion piece to a contemporary dance work of the same name. This work premiered at the 2013 Parramasala Festival in Sydney, Australia and continues to tour internationally.

This documentary is part of The DAM(N) Project, a large-scale interdisciplinary art project that connects Australian and Indian communities around the common concern of global water security. The project is focused on community capacity building and the creation of multi-platform creative content that can be disseminated internationally. The DAM(N) Project is directed by Leah Barclay, Jehan Kanga and S. Shakthidharan. This project will be expanded into a feature length documentary in the future. 

Zameen Documentary 

Director/Cinematographer: S. Shakthidharan
Composer/sound designer: Leah Barclay
Producer: Jehan Kanga
Performers: Meghna Nambiar, Sylvester Mardi, Ronita Mookerji, Attakkalari Dancers
Editor: S. Shakthidharan
Camera and Sound Assistant: Jehan Kanga

Zameen is a partnership between CuriousWorks, Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts, Jehan Kanga, Leah Barclay and S. Shakthidharan. It is the first major outcome from The DAM(N) Project. – See more at www.thedamnproject.com