1958, The Government of Kerala persuades the Birlas to open a factory in Mavoor, Kozhikkode, North Kerala. The Grasim rayon pulp factory was open for around four decades. Thousands of workers earned their living trading future lives for present. The fumes wing their way to the neighborhood spreading disease and death. Effluents gurgle into Chaliyar River poisoning everything on its way to th sea. At a time when environmental activism was unheard of, a man lead his people to save their River and their lives from the killer factory. Their dream was to see their River come back to life, and fishes leap in the Sun. A River, her people and a factory that gobbles all our precious natural resources and pollutes our land, lives, form the prinicipal characters in this film. A film by P. Baburaj and C. Saratchandran 1998-2001/English/35 mins
Third Eye Communications is an informal group of filmmakers and film activists involved in producing distributing and screening of films on social and environmental issues. The group became active from 1999 with the video documentary Chaliyar…The Final Struggle on the anti pollution struggle by the people against Mavoor Gwalior Rayons factory in Calicut, Kerala. This was followed by Kanavu (Dream) on the alternate school of the adivasi children in Wynad and a reportage on the police firing in Muthanga Wynad titled “Evicted from Justice. In December 2002 we made the film “The Bitter Drink” on the struggle of the adivasi communities in Plachimada against the over exploitation of the ground water by the corporate global giant Coca Cola. Last year we made “Only An Axe Away”, a film on the history of the campaign to save the Silent Valley eco-system and the recent attempts by the state electricity board (KSEB) to destroy it in the form of another hydel project. ‘1000 Days and a Dream’ produced in 2006 was a poignant account of the 5 year old anti-coca cola struggle in Plachimada, Kerala, India. It traces the history of the struggle, discusses issues and shares the dreams and sorrows of a few participants.
