April 4, 2012, 5:00 PM

Cotton for my Shroud

National Award for Best Investigative Film

Directors: Nandan Saxena & Kavita Bahl

(75 min/2011)

Venue:

Suchitra

#36 9th Main BV Karanth Road

Banashankari 2nd Stage

Bangalore 560070

080 26711785, 9845055034

suchitrafilmsociety@gmail.com

Synopsis

Since 1995, a quarter of a million Indian farmers have committed suicide – the largest wave of recorded suicides in human history.

Most of them were cotton farmers from Vidarbha in Maharashtra. Once known for its fine cotton, Vidarbha is now called the ‘graveyard of farmers’.

‘Cotton for my shroud’ tries to understand from a grass-roots perspective what is driving the cotton farmers to despair – is it a crisis of farm credit or are they victims of faulty paradigms of development.

The escalating cost of inputs like seed, fertiliser and pesticide has made farming unsustainable. In the summer, the lack of resources or institutional credit for sowing the fields drives poor farmers to end their lives. In the winter, the depressed rates of cotton become the proverbial last straw.

While the state and the media label these deaths as suicide, the cotton fields of Vidarbha remain a mute witness to genocide.

The film documents the diabolical designs of American multinationals like Monsanto to control our seed supply. A nation that does not have food security, cannot claim to be independent. And the ruling elite are again complicit in this second colonisation of India.

The film was shot over two visits to the hinterlands of Vidarbha.

Narrated in the first person, it gives us a window into the drama and despair that forms the warp and weft of life at Vidarbha. (Source: Filmmaker)

The movie will be followed by a panel discussion

Panel Members

• Dr. G K Veeresh, Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.

• Prof. N Narasimhappa, Farmers’ leader and agricultural specialist.

• Mr. K Satyanarayana, Former Editor “Kannada Prabha” and well-known political and financial columnist.

The discussion will be moderated by Prakash Belawadi, eminent journalist and theatre personality

The filmmakers will be present during the screening

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Best Regards

Anand Varadaraj

Secretary

Suchitra Film Society

(080) 26711785