TEFF 2017

TEFF 2017 was a two-day event held on 24 & 25 March 2017 at Dr. K. N. Modi University, Newai, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Along with the festival an International Conference on Environmental Justice: Culture, Resistance and Ethics Sponsored by Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), New Delhi, and in collaboration with tiNai (formerly known as OSLE-India), a forum in India for promoting ecocriticism was organised. Over 25 films were screened to an audience of about 200 audiences. The following films won the award:

  1. Best Indian Short Ecodocumentary  – Like Dust We RiseLike Dust We Rise | Directors. Abhimanyu Singh, Arya AT, Garima Kaul and Prerna Gupta | 17 minutes | IndiaSynopsis of the film

    This is a film about those who clean the city of dreams. It brings to the fore, through the narratives of a few BMC workers, the lackadaisical workings of the Bombay Municipal Corporation resulting in injustice to the workers.

    Kali, Murugan, Anthony, Aziz, Saroja and Rajeshwari carry the narrative forth as they narrate personal incidents of injuries and accidents on the field, for which they haven’t received any compensation. The indifference of the system and its wrongdoings have united all BMC contractual labours into a Union whose fight goes on. This is a film about grit and gumption.

  2. Best Indian Short EcodocumentaryRunner-upChronicles of a WildliferChronicles of a Wildlifer | Dir. Amit Goswamy | 28 minutes | India

    Synopsis of the film

    A story first time from the perspective of a wildlife biologist. As he studies and experiences the wildlife up close during the field works. The story gives a unique glimpse into the working of a field biologist. There were many occasions in which the wild animals were encountered very close while working in the field. The beauty of it lies in the fact that, one needs to have an animal instinct himself to sense the pulse of the forest. Even the slightest sign and change in the forest conveys a message that is required to be deciphered. The story concludes with giving a broader perspective to ‘Wildlife’ and explaining how ‘Wildlife Crime’ is not just an ecological issue but also a social issue threatening the survival of ‘Homo Sapiens’.

  3. Best Foreign Short EcodocumentaryThe Call from the SeaThe Call from the Sea | Dir. Alexandru Vlad | 15 minutes | Romania

     Synopsis of the film

    The movie ‘We Fly Again’ tells the unwritten story of the birds we cohabit with, the crows. Although they live in very big groups near the metropolis and the increase the risks of spreading an entire list of epidemics among the human population, since they feed on the cesspools and they rest in towns during the nightfall, the birds are harmless and they love people.

  4. Best Foreign Short EcodocumentaryRunner-upMetamorphosisMetamorphosis | Dir. Adrian Arce | 14 minutes | Mexico

     Synopsis of the film

    The Guadalupe dam watershed, located at the northeast of Mexico City, is a region of great biodiversity. It’s a source of oxygen, drinking water, wood, food, medicinal plants and cultural elements for the inhabitants of the Valleys of Mexico and Toluca. While an important home for the Otomí ethnic group, the watershed also shelters a peculiar species: the mountain axolotl (Ambystoma altamirani), a micro-endemic, endangered amphibian, unique in the world.

  5. Foreign Feature EcodocumentarySunuSunu | Dir. Teresa Camou Guerrero | 1 hour 25 minutes | Mexico

    Synopsis of the film

    Seen through the eyes of small, midsize and large Mexican maize producers, SUNÚ knits together different stories from a threatened rural world. It journeys deep into the heart of a country where people realize their determination to stay free, to work the land and cultivate their seeds, to be true to their cultures and forms of spirituality, all in a modern world that both need them and despises them. SUNÚ reveals how maize and everything it gives life to could be lost forever and shares a generous tapestry of simple, heartfelt messages for the farmers of the world and the city dwellers who could lose the capability to make important choices unless they act soon.

  6. Foreign Feature EcodocumentaryRunner upILHAIlha | Dir. Daniel de la Calle | 56 minutes | Brazil

    Synopsis of the film

    Ilha is about the small island of Boipeba, located 80 miles South of Salvador de Bahía, in Brazil.
    In many ways, the island can be seen as the epitome of the slow tropical paradise, a dream of sandy beaches, gentle waters and coconut trees. The film depicts a day watching locals as they walk, paddle and fish along the island shores and mangroves, portraying life as it for now still is. Almost everyone lives or implements their diet from what the sea and coral reefs provide. There is a unique pace to Boipeba, enhanced by the wandering nature of hunter-gatherers, by the ever-changing soothing skies, the empty spaces, the wide horizons. All islands, big or small, appear as self-contained worlds, deceivingly manageable, the perfect fertile ground to build a utopia and to hide away. Such is its allure to foreigners, and the thin stretch of land between the high and the low tides distils its essence. But everyone wants a piece of paradise, to change it.

  7. Jury’s Special Mention – Every drop countsEvery Drop Counts | Dir. Dhimant Vyas | 1 minute | India

     Synopsis of the film

    For most of us living in cities with dependable amenities, drought is something we see on TV or read in newspapers. Even if not for all the 24 hours, water does come to our houses and taps. This probably gives us an emotional distance from the people, animals, birds and landscapes affected by a drought. Because of this, we fail to understand that our actions have an impact too! This film is an attempt to build that bridge. It tells the two sides of a story, on one screen. It gives the full picture.

 

TEFF 2016

TEFF 2016 was a two-day event held on 17, 18 March 2016 at Dr. K. N. Modi University, Newai, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Shrinking Shores directed by Dr. Ashish Rao, Assistant Professor at Amity University, Jaipur, was the inaugural film of the festival. About 250 college students, activists and journalists participated in the festival.

TEFF 2015

The three day ecofilm festival, tiNai ecofilm festival TEFF 2015 was held at BITS, Pilani – K. K. Birla Goa campus on 08, 09, 10 October 2015. Twenty films whose themes centred around issues on ecological and environmental relevance were screened in the festival. Around 100 students from Colleges in and around Goa and fifty delegates from India and outside India participated in the festival attending workshops, discussions and watching films.

The national award-winning film, Dammed, by the famous documentary filmmakers, Mr. Nandan Saxena and Ms. Kavitha Bahl was the inaugural film of TEFF 2015.

Two workshops on documentary filmmaking (conducted by Ms. S. Saraswati, filmmaker) and Photography Workshop (conducted by Mr. Nandan Saxena and Ms. Kavita Bahl) were conducted for the participants. The Photography workshop was sponsored by Sony India.

To enrich the academics around ecocinema studies, a national conference on Celebrating Landscapes and Waterscapes was conducted at BITS Pilani, Goa Campus, with about 25 paper presentations and intense film discussions and ecofilm books. Prof. Salma Monani, Professor at Gettysburg College, USA, delivered the keynote address. Based on two concepts: Indigenous Cosmopolitics and tiNai she read the history of Ecocinema Studies, beginning from her own research.

A Commons Sense, Pristine Waters, Shifting Undercurrents, Red Data Book and Shrinking Shores won the tiNai Ecofilm Festival 2015 awards.

TEFF 2014

The two day ecofilm festival, tiNai ecofilm festival (TEFF) 2014 was held at BITS, Pilani – K. K. Birla Goa campus on the 31 January and 1 February, 2014. Twenty-two films whose themes centred around issues on ecological and environmental relevance were screened in the festival. Around two hundred students from Colleges in and around Goa and fifty delegates from India and outside India participated in the festival attending lectures, workshops, discussions and watching films.

Surviving Progress directed by Canadian filmmaker Mathieu Roy and produced by Martin Scorcesese was the inaugural film of TEFF 2014. Four films from the seventy entries, won awards. The films Have you seen the Arana? (Best Ecodocumentary Feature); City’s Edge (Best Short Ecodocumentary); In God’s Land (Ecodocumentary Feature – Runner-up) and Timbaktu (Short Ecodocumentary – Runner Up) were given Rs.20, 000 and Rs.10, 000 as cash awards along with certificates and trophies.

Eminent social and environmental scientist, Padma Bhushan and Padma Sri awardee, Prof. Madhav Gadgil delivered a lecture on the role of teachers and students of Goa in environment monitoring leading to preservation. He was also a part of the panel discussion titled, ‘Can development be Ecocentric?’ along with professors, activists and filmmakers.

Alongside screening films, four workshops, three lectures, one lecture-cum-demonstration and a panel discussion were also organized as part of TEFF 2014. The festival concluded with the screening of four award-winning films of TEFF 2014.

The travelling team of the festival took the films to two institutions:

  1. Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Chennai
  2. Carmel College, Mala, Thrissur, Kerala

International Conference on Environmental Justice: Culture, Resistance and Ethics

International Conference on Environmental Justice: Culture, Resistance and Ethics
Sponsored by Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), New Delhi
and
in collaboration with tiNai (formerly known as OSLE-India),
a forum in India for promoting ecocriticism

24 & 25 March 2017
at
Dr. K. N. Modi University Newai, Tonk, Rajasthan, India

Concept Note:

“Environmental Justice initiatives specifically attempt to redress the disproportionate incidence of environmental contamination in communities of the poor and/or communities of colour, to secure for those affected the right to live unthreatened by the risks posed by environmental degradation and contamination, and to afford equal access to natural resources that sustain life and culture.” – Joni Adamson, Mei Mei Evans & Rachel Stein, Introduction to The Environmental Justice Reader: Politics, Poetics, & Pedagogy

Discoursing the politics of environmental justice, Gordon Walker asks two primary questions: “Are the benefits of access to green space for all, or only for some? Do powerful voices dominate environmental decisions to the exclusion of others?” Both the questions would lead to a unanimous answer “yes” as the environment should be accessed by all people and decisions should not favour one or a few communities. There are number of environmental issues that we could identify locally and globally. If we analyse these issues we would realise that the basis of all these issues is denial of rights/access to their respective environments. Thus environmental justice is not merely an environmental problem; it is also a social, political, cultural and economic problem. To take the discussion further we might want to ask pertinent questions as: “Is it just to serve a single justice to all ecocultures, considering the peculiarities and cultural differences of cultural communities? Are some communities often deprived of their environmental rights?” These questions would initiate discussions on diversity, naturecultures, and peculiarities of every cultural community. David Schlosberg’s words―Cultural recognition is central in the struggle for environmental justice―are particularly relevant in this context.

The conference aims to recognize ecological spaces denied to cultural communities across the world and theorize them by understanding the ethics, justices and injustices involved. The conference will be a pioneering one in the academic area of Environmental Justice in India. The conference will create scholarship in all disciplines which will be a collective and collaborative effort. This discourse will encourage researchers and scholars to work in this upcoming and most relevant area and would help them launch courses and programmes.

Subthemes

  • Environmental Justice, Land, Water and Air
  • Environmental Justice and Food
  • Environmental Justice and Poverty
  • Environmental Justice, Energy, Development and Governance
  • Environmental Justice, Race, Caste, Indigeneity and Gender
  • Environmental Justice and Climate
  • Environmental Justice and Memory
  • Environmental Justice and Texts (literary and cultural)
  • Representation of Environmental Justice in Media
  • Politics of Environmental Justice
  • Policies on Environmental Justice
  • Ethics of Environmental Justice
  • Philosophy of Environment
  • Environmental Justice in Ecofilms/ecoart

 

Call for Papers

Abstracts not exceeding 300 words should be copied to the filled in registration form (only on M.S. word document) and emailed to ecoethicsconference@gmail.com and humanities@dknmu.org before 08 January 2017 for acceptance. The contributors will be informed of the acceptance of the abstract by 22 January 2017. Full papers, not exceeding twelve pages (4000-5000 words) and typed in single space in A4 following MLA style sheet, should be submitted by 28 February 2017. Kindly note that a maximum of 100 papers will be selected for presentation. Selected papers may be published in the form of a book, preferably with an International publisher.

Registration

The delegates who would like to attend and present a paper in the conference will be charged a registration fee.

Delegate Registration (with accommodation): Rs.5000
Delegate Registration (without accommodation): Rs.3500
(Note: Employed research scholars belong to the above category)
Fulltime Student Registration (with accommodation): Rs.4000
Fulltime Student Registration (without accommodation): Rs.3000
Foreign Delegate: 100 US Dollars
(The registration fee covers the conference kit, lunch and tea for two days and participation in all sessions including the film screenings.)

Conference Fellowship

A few delegates (applicable to only Research Scholars) will be awarded a Fellowship to present their original paper in the conference assessing the quality of it. A separate certificate stating the award of the fellowship will be given to the delegate. The fellowship will also include a considerable fee waiver. The Research Scholar should apply for the fellowship while submitting his/her abstract. The Conference Fellows will be intimated before 28 February 2017.

Mode of Payment

Payment shall be by DD in favour of “Dr. K.N. Modi University, Newai” payable at Newai, or through online money transfer (NEFT). The details for paying your registration through NEFT are as follows:

Name of the Account Holder: Dr. K. N. Modi University
Name of the Bank: ICICI Bank
Branch Address: Bada, Bazar, Newai, Tonk District
Account Number: 679901700111
IFSC Code: ICIC0006799
Branch Code: 6799

Accommodation

Accommodation to paper presenters will be arranged on request. Please note that the rooms will be allotted on sharing basis. Kindly note that there are only limited rooms and so it will be made available only on a first-come-first-served basis.

About Dr. K. N. Modi University

Dr. K. N. Modi University, a State Government enacted, UGC approved Private University, situated on a sprawling 45 acres campus with sylvan surroundings is situated at Newai in the Tonk district of Rajasthan. It is being managed by Dr. K. N. Modi Foundation, whose Founder, Dr. Kedar Nath Modi, was a doyen in contributing to the cause of the society and a pioneer in establishing educational institutions to offer quality and value based education – primary to higher levels of professional education – in the background of his committed belief, “Education Builds the Nation.”
The University, in the background of its philosophy, “Education for the Development of the society,” has embarked on a missionary zeal to realise its goals and objectives, since its inception in the academic year 2010-11. The University offers professional academic programs related to Agriculture, Arts, Commerce, Diverse Disciplines of Engineering, Forestry, Law, Management, Pharmacy and Science streams at Diploma (limited to Engineering and Pharmacy Studies at Present), Undergraduate, Post Graduate and Doctoral levels to scores of students belonging not only to diverse strata of the society but also to the diverse regions of the State and the Country besides those from Afghanistan and Nepal. For more details, visit our website: http://www.dknmu.org/.

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dr. K. N. Modi University

Interdisciplinary in orientation, the department currently offers courses in Economics, English Literature and Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology. It is in this respect that we feel particularly well-equipped to contribute to a science, arts and ethics dialogue across cultural and transcultural boundaries.

Original contributions to research and to ongoing debates in ethics, cultural anthropology, critical theory, cognition, ideology, development policy, organizational behaviour and economic activity, environmental and gender studies, the history of science and technology, the philosophy of culture, and indeed to the nature of theory itself are crucial in a department like ours.

Important Dates

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 08 January 2017 (Date extended to 31 January 2017)
Abstract acceptance intimation: 22 January 2017 (Date extended to 05 February 2017)
Deadline for Registration: 28 February 2017
Deadline for Paper Submission: 28 February 2017

Inquiries

For any logistical and academic queries
Mr. Saikat Banerjee (Assistant Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Dr. K.N. Modi University, Newai, Tonk, Rajasthan)
Email: saikatenglish2013@gmail.com
Mobile Number: +91 9529386461

Regular Mailing Address
Mr. Saikat Banerjee
Attn: Environmental Justice Conference
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Dr. K.N. Modi University
INS-1, RIICO Industrial Area Ph-II, Newai
Dist. Tonk, Rajasthan – 304021 (India)

Advisory Board
Patrons

  • Dr. D.K Modi, Chairman, Dr. K.N. Modi University, Newai, Tonk, Rajasthan
  • Prof. Devendra Pathak, Vice-Chancellor, Dr. K.N. Modi University, Newai, Tonk, Rajasthan
  • Prof. Nirmal Selvamony, Head, Department of English, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu, India

Academic Advisors

  • Prof. Joni Adamson, Professor, Environmental Humanities, Department of English
    Director, Environmental Humanities Certificate, Arizona State University, USA
  • Prof. Patrick Brereton, Head of the School, School of Communications, Dublin City University, Ireland
  • Prof. T. Ravi Chandran, Professor of English, Department of HSS, IIT Kanpur, India
    Prof. Chia-Ju Chang, Associate Professor, Modern Languages and Literatures, Brooklyn College, The City University of New York, USA
  • Dr. Yalan Chang, Assistant Professor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Huafan University, Taiwan
  • Prof. D. Narasimhan, Associate Professor of Botany, Madras Christian College, Chennai, India
  • Prof. Simon C. Estok, Professor, Department of English, Language and Literature, College of Liberal Arts, Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea
  • Prof. Ursula K. Heise, Professor, Marcia H. Howard Chair in Literary Studies, Department of English, Institute of the Environment & Sustainability, University of California, USA
  • Prof. Serenella Iovino, Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Turin, Italy
  • Prof. Mark C. Long, Professor, Director of the Integrative Studies Program, Keene State College, USA
  • Prof. Salma Monani, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Gettysburg College, USA
  • Prof. Patrick D. Murphy, Professor, Department of English, University of Central Florida, USA
  • Prof. Serpil Oppermann, Professor at Department of English and Literature, Hacettepe University, Turkey, and Vice President, EASLCE (European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and the Environment
  • Prof. S. Ravi Rajan, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, California
  • Prof. Scott Slovic, Professor, Department Chair, Department of English, College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences, University of Idaho, USA
  • Prof. Gordon Walker, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, UK

Conference Committee

  • Dr. Rayson K. Alex
    (Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, K.K. Birla Goa Campus, Goa)
  • Mr. Saikat Banerjee
    (Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dr. K.N. Modi University, Newai, Tonk, Rajasthan)
  • Dr. S. Susan Deborah
    (Assistant Professor, Department of English, M.E.S. College of Arts & Commerce, Goa)
  • Mr. K. Samuel Moses Srinivas
    (Assistant Professor, Department of English, Madras Christian College, Chennai)

Downloads
Registration Form
Application for the Conference fellowship
Statement of Originality