Phulbari – Documentary

Phulbari – Documentary

Dec 21, 2007 | Documentary Films, Environment

A documentary film on the social, environmental and economic issues of the proposed Phulbari open-cast mine.
2007, English and Bangla, 45 mins – DVD Tk.200 / US$10, CD Tk.100 / US$5

Phulbari, a 45-minute film documents facts about grassroots revolt in Phulbari against open-cast mining and explains complex social, environmental and economic issues involved with coal and its extraction strategies. In energy-poor Bangladesh coal is said to be an important resource that has put Bangladesh to the test. The film is an eye-opener to anyone interested in energy security in Bangladesh.

Publication Details

Published: 2007
Language: English and Bangla
Length: 34 minutes
Director: Ronald Halder and Philip Gain
DVD: Tk.200 / US$10
CD: Tk.100 / US$5

Stolen Forests – Documentary

Stolen Forests – Documentary

Dec 21, 2005 | Documentary Films, Environment

Details the devastation happening to the forests of Bangladesh. 2005, English 76 mins, Bangla (Biponno Bon) 45 mins
DVD Tk.200 / US$10, CD Tk.100 / US$5

Biponno Bon (Stolen Forests) is a documentary film on the forests of Bangladesh (except for the Sundarbans) that have been devastated. The hills in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are bare today. The traditional sal forest has become history in most parts. The monoculture plantations of exotic and invasive species in place of hundreds of species of the native forests are not forests at all. This is the central theme of the documentary film Stolen Forest.

The film is divided into two parts. The first part tells the story of the sal forest destruction. The second part of the film is on the appalling state of the forests in Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and the Chittagong Hill Tracts belt. Like what is seen in the sal forest, “simple plantation” afforestation with few species has replaced the towering native forests of Garjan, Chapalish, Chikrashi, and numerous other species in this vast expanse. Acacia, eucalyptus, teak, and pine are the dominant invasive species seen in these areas. This dramatic change has largely been caused by different projects financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank.

The key message of the film is that man can plant trees but can never create a forest. Trees alone don’t form a forest. Hundreds of species of trees and bushes and a large number of other vegetable species grow at all stages and on the forest floor. The knowledge of the forest-dwelling communities, their traditions, culture, history, education—all are parts of a forest. The forest cover in Bangladesh has now shrunk to merely six per cent. This includes more than 400,000 hectares of plantation established since 1872. Given [monoculture] plantation is not real forest, the actual forest cover is less than six per cent.

Publication Details

Published: 2005
English: 76 minutes
Bangla: 45 minutes
Director: Philip Gain and Junaid Halim
DVD: Tk.200 / US$10
CD: Tk.100 / US$5

Chokoria Sundarban: A Forest without Trees – Documentary

Chokoria Sundarban: A Forest without Trees – Documentary

Dec 21, 2005 | Documentary Films, Environment

A documentary film on the destruction of the Sundarbans and the impact on the marginalised people of the area.
2005, English and Bangla (Chokoria Sundarban: Je Bone Gaachh Nei), 34 mins
DVD Tk.200 / US$10, CD Tk.100 / US$5

Chokoria Sundarban: A Forest without Trees (Chokoria Sundarban: Je Bone Gaachh Nei) is a documentary on the destruction of the Chokoria Sundarban that used to be a 21,000-acre unique mangrove patch in the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar. The forest has been entirely destroyed and replaced by thousands of shrimp farms. Once the dense mangrove forest was full of diverse vegetation and wildlife. It also had abundant fish and naturally spawned shrimp. The mangrove, with its complex nature, provided a safe shelter to the wildlife, fish, shrimp and aquatic reptiles.

With concrete information, visuals and satellite images the documentary presents the current condition in the Chokoria Sundarban and how shrimp production became the single most incentive for the destruction of the forest. It also shows how shrimp cultivation has impacted the local environment and the subsistence economy of the marginal people.

Publication Details

Published: 2005
Language: English and Bangla
Length: 34 minutes
Director: Junaid Halim
DVD: Tk.200 / US$10
CD: Tk.100 / US$5

Mandi – Documentary

Mandi – Documentary

Dec 22, 1994 | Adivasis and Forests, Documentary Films

The struggle of the Garos and the destruction of their sal forest in Mymensingh and Tangail districts of Bangladesh.
1994, English and Bangla, 28 mins | DVD Tk.200 / US$10 | CD Tk.100 | US$5

Mandi is a documentary film on the struggle of the matralineal Garos and the destruction of a unique sal forest in Mymensingh and Tangail districts of Bangladesh. Of 100,000 in Bangladesh, around 20,000 of them live in the Modhupur sal forest. Not many years ago, huge sal, other timber trees and medicinal plants covered the third-largest forest of Bangladesh, the Modhupur forest. Today vast areas lie denuded or sparsely covered by trees and undergrowth. The government’s commercial plantation programs in the name of “community” or “social forestry” have generated some patches of exotic fuel wood trees, causing further harm to the natural forests.

Publication Details

Published: 1994
Language: English and Bangla
Length: 28 minutes
Director: Ashfaque Munir
DVD: Tk.200 / US$10
CD: Tk.100 / US$5