I Cannot Give You My Forest

Directed by Kavita Bahl

‘I cannot give you my Forest’ is a modern day rendition of the David and Goliath story, played out in an Orwellian setting. The film is an intimate poetic window into the lives of the Kondh adivasis in Odisha- who eschew the duality of Man and Nature. The Kondh have internalised the Forest – pacing the rhythms of their lives with the cycle of the seasons. The Forest is a metaphor for their identity and their sovereignty. Against the foil of the bloodshed in what the Indian government calls the ‘Red Corridor’, their philosophy gives a counterpoint to the dominant discourse.