Jackie K. (Chintan Environmental research and Action Group): Jackie grew up on the Canadian prairies in Winnipeg, Manitoba where she became deeply interested in the impact of environmental change on marginalized peoples. She graduated in 2007 from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Environmental Science (First Class Honours) and a University Gold Medal as the highest achieving graduate in her faculty. While completing this degree, Jackie worked in the University of Manitoba’s Environmental Conservation Lab, helping research on the social impacts of mad cow disease and other ecological challenges. In the fall of 2007, Jackie began a Law degree at the University of British Columbia where she worked with Dr. Natasha Affolder, researching biodiversity and mining. While at UBC Law, Jackie was the Co-Chair of UBC’s Environmental Law Group and co-coordinator of the Public Interest Law Society.

03 Aug

How the Chintan Staff Became a Film Crew and Changed the World

Okay, perhaps the world hasn’t changed …yet, but the Chintan office is currently buzzing with excitement over the organization’s latest activist film project!

Ashina Filming in Seema Puri

To create the film, Chintan partnered with Witness, a human rights organization that empowers grassroots NGOs to use documentary film as an advocacy tool. By producing films, such NGOs can publicize human rights violations and the struggles of oppressed communities worldwide. For months Ryan Shlief, a dedicated human rights activist and Witness’s Program Coordinator for Asia, has been training Chintan staff to work as producers, directors, camera crew, and film editors within the documentary filmmaking process.

Dinesh filming Matlib

Thus, documentary film now represents another medium through which Chintan can disseminate information about environmentally and socially just recycling in Delhi. The current film project focuses on wastepickers’ rights in the face of corporate privatization of waste management in India.

Witness was founded in 1992 by musician and activist Peter Gabriel.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrzr4R3LpsQ

Witness’s slogan: “See It. Film It. Change It.” reflects the transformative potential of storytelling through film. By allowing people to tell their own stories, documentary film has to capacity to uncover injustices and create counter-narratives to dominant societal norms. Documentary is thus an accessible artistic medium that can act as a catalyst for social change. Documentary also represents a unique opportunity for advocacy as it allows communities to tell their own stories and can enhance the directness through which oppressed peoples communicate with decision makers and the general public.

The Community of Seema Puri Tells their Story

The Wastepicker Community of Seema Puri Tells Their Story

For further information on the project, including a video interview with Bharati, Chintan’s founder and director, see Ryan Shlief’s blog at http://hub.witness.org/en/blog/chintan-production.

Posted By Jackie K. (India)

Posted Aug 3rd, 2009

In Your Eyes

How the Chintan Staff Became a Film Crew and Changed the World

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