Living River: The Ganges

In Person: Filmmaker VINIT PARMAR and music score composer PREMIK RUSSELL TUBBS.

The Ganges River nourishes the soul and washes away sins of millions who bathe in the river and drink from it. But what happens when the river is polluted? How has a holy river become unholy by those who use it? The Ganges, the iconic river of India supports 400 million people everyday. Volunteers clean the river only to find the river is still polluted. This is their story, following the journey of hope to the death and cancers that follow, revealing a controversy riddled with denials, disbelief, and damage: 25 years of delays and excuses that pollute the river and choke the nation. What is the price of saving the Ganges or the 5,000-year old culture it supports? http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/event/living-river/ 

More about the movie

Living River is a groundbreaking and up-close look at the pollution that’s been an ecological scourge troubling the revered Ganges River in India.

The film delivers as yet an unexplored and authentic view of the river and the people struggling to compel change. With unprecedented access, the film brings to light an age-old industry of leather production in transition, bringing in USD$4 Billion to the Indian economy at a cost of degradation of the environment and the health of the residents. Does the end justify the means? This film illustrates the irony of Hindus profiting from the skin of "holy" cows while polluting the “sacred” Ganges River.

The exposed water pollution in India is a red flag for fresh water rivers around the world suffering from endemic problems of improper and inadequate treatment plants, illegal activities by chemical industries along riverbanks, improper oversight and weak implementation of government regulatory agencies, corruption, and lack of public awareness. www.livingriverfilm.com/ 

About the Guest Speaker

Director/Producer

Vinit Parmar, Esq., began his film work as a sound mixer in New York fifteen years ago after making the transition from an established legal career of seven years. He works professionally as a sound mixer for features, shorts, and commercials, and continues to direct his own documentary films. He loves to teach film production courses as a full-time tenured faculty member of the Film Department at Brooklyn College as part of the City University of New York.