Kolkata: Lives of climate refugees on Ghoramara island in the Sunderbans have been brought to the forefront in Mrinmoy Sarkar’s ‘All That Matters to Them’, which received the Satyajit Ray Golden Award at the 9th South Asian Short Film Festival. Organized by the Federation of Film Societies of India Eastern Region, the festival concluded at Nandan on Thursday by also presenting the Ritwik Ghatak Golden Award to Jasmine Kaur Roy and Avinash Roy’s ‘Khooh Wala Ghar-Room at the Farm’.While the jury comprised Sarmistha Maiti, Debjani Banerjee, and Senjutee Suborna Tushee, filmmakers Anjan Bose, Sekhar Das, and Atanu Ghosh presented awards to winners of two major categories. In the documentary segment, the silver award went to Debalina Majumder’s ‘Friends of Jilipibala‘, while the bronze award was presented to Munmun Dhalaria’s ‘In the Heart of the Tide’. Additionally, jury awards were given to Debasree Dutta’s ‘Durga Puja of Kolkata’ and Debanjan Majhi’s ‘Gajon-Hymns of Nature’. The short fiction category saw Santanu Biswas’s ‘The Alter Echo’ won the silver award while the bronze award was shared by two films: Shobhita Thakur’s ‘The One Who Plays-Khilawadi‘ and Nafiseh Zare’s ‘Under the Snow’. “Both ‘All That Matters to Them’ and ‘In the Heart of the Tide’ are set on the Sunderbans,” said Premendra Mazumdar, vice president, Federation of Film Societies of India.“In the Heart of the Tide” features the efforts of the West Bengal Forest Department, govt scientists, and conservationists dedicated to protecting the tigers while keeping locals safe. The winning documentary portrays the harrowing reality of climate refugees in the Sundarbans, where rising tides and erosion have forced survivors onto Ghoramara. “I had an urban-centric perspective before first visiting Ghoramara in 2023 and expected the climate refugees to only talk about the fear of losing their homeland. That’s what most documentaries focus on. But the resilience of the refugees forced me to change my perspective,” says Sarkar. In one scene, refugees laughingly joke about moving to Kolkata and sleeping on the Maidan if their island vanishes. Everyone breaks into laughter, clearly realising that the joke was cracked deliberately since the system has forever made a joke of their needs. “It was life-altering to see how they hold on to their ability to mock the system and not be angry. I wanted to share this perspective through my documentary,” he adds.
