In a conversation with Christy Varghese, Kunal Khanna, the founder of ALT EFF, shares that we still have time to reverse the damage we have done to our environment
India, a country where conventional cinema has ruled the entertainment game for decades, has a negligible, but growing, interest in documentary films. A fact that most of us are familiar with, without having to turn to surveys or studies on the same. However, a lot has changed in the past several years.
While we are talking about the shift in consciousness that has become increasingly visible and loud, we have to admit that the pandemic brought matters to the fore. A month into the nation-wide lockdown, pollution levels in cities were down to bearable levels; with factories not functioning, and not pumping waste material into the rivers, the colour of the water in these rivers also changed. Such observable changes led us to scratch our chins and wonder, would the environment be better off if we were not around?
Roughly a year and a half post the first lockdown, we have lowered our masks and we are back at it. It appears we humans forget quite easily. However, it is a stroke of luck that there still are some individuals among us who can’t help but remember something they have realised.
Meet Kunal Khanna, the founder of the All Living Things Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF), India’s first environmental film festival. Born in Mumbai, and raised in Panchgani, Khanna gained his sense of independence through an adulthood in Australia. After returning to his roots in India, back in 2018, Khanna started running a permaculture farm and realising our dependency on nature, he developed ALT EFF to become a catalyst for environmental change in India.
While ALT EFF was launched virtually in 2020, against the backdrop of the pandemic, Khanna reveals that the film festival was originally conceptualised as a physical festival back in 2019, full of experiences, gatherings and a lively sustainability market. However, working on the virtual model was a blessing in disguise as they were able to engage viewers from across the world. With 33 films, and over 4,500 viewers, the maiden ALT EFF criss-crossed countries, habitats and some serious issues.
Khanna expresses, “Our motive at ALT EFF is to bring forth stories of hope while inspiring more people to look at the important issues of our time. We are trying to create awareness and through the awareness generate some change in the way we lead our lives.”
This time around, their presence was bound to grow with 44 films being screened from October 9-17. Read on for excerpts from the interview, for a peek into Khanna’s mind.
Was there any single incident which acted as an epiphany, of sorts, for you to switch careers and come back to India?
It was not a moment but many things over a couple of years.
I trained as an economist for my undergraduate studies and later went on to work at the state treasury of Victoria. And I could not help but be concerned by the way classic economic theory had us looking at the world. Essentially, we could be doing a lot of damage, the way we go about producing things and living our life, but as long as a ‘profit’ is being generated, we dont need to worry about the rest of the details — and this was very fundamental in economic theory.
I was practising economics for about three years and I could not digest that information any more because the world around us was changing and we could see the environmental impact, the damage that was being inflicted upon nature, unfolding before our very eyes. That is when I started questioning the system we live in and the economic model upon which our system is based. At that time I decided to go and do a master’s in environment with the intention of devoting my life to that subject. During my 13 years in Australia, I observed the power of films and how it could cause change and that is what led to the India’s first environmental film festival.
Is it a bit too late to raise our voice for the environment?
As per recent studies and reports, and considering the way how things are going, one might feel that things have gotten out of hand. However, the fact that so many of us are working towards the conservation of our environment, in varying capacities, is based on the ideology that it is never too late. And I believe so because I have seen up close how if we give nature a chance to do what it does best, it won’t take too long to regain its past glory.
We as humans have created a solution for every problem that we have encountered for aeons and hopefully, this is just another such instance, even though it is a big one, admittedly. The entire premise of the environmental film festival is to bring about that hope.
I feel that we, who are in India, have limited exposure to what is going on around the world. Our exposure, in terms of news and the people that we follow on social media and/or interact with, is actually very limited. Which is why we bring stories from across the globe — out of 44 films that are being screened this time around, 31 are from 31 different countries.
They really open our eyes to what all is happening; are you aware that at this moment there are waves of numerous individuals who are standing up and raising their voices to attract our attention to this serious problem? We hope to inspire more and more people with time and create a tsunami of change.
What did your role as the innovations lead city of Melbourne entail? Did you try to incorporate some changes keeping in mind environmental factors as well?
Yes, of course! My role over there was to consider innovations and creative ways to ensure that Melbourne continues to be one of the most liveable cities in the world. The role required me to diversify my skills, and taught me a lot, as I had to work on multiple aspects such as developing interfaces to make life a little more convenient for the people of the city and also what we can do to address environmental issues, such as introducing green spaces in the urban areas, or how we can manage organic food waste.
I would work with a very wide range of ideas and concepts. but my role was to use the innovations that the people of Melbourne had to offer. Every major city across the world welcomes innovations that can help its citizens and India too has a lot of potential in that regard, with some very capable people doing some incredible work. However, governments often fail to capitalise on that
Melbourne, which has been featuring in the top 10 liveable cities in the world for quite some time now, takes such steps very seriously. We transformed how we were managing the waste systems, while I was the innovations lead.
While we are familiar with the two dustbin system, one for biodegradable waste and the other for non-biodegradable waste, we introduced a third bin — for food waste. We turned that into compost, to be used as organic fertiliser by people growing their own food.
We transformed a liability to a resource. I also remember open innovation competition, which I have led in the past, where we invited new ideas centred around the concept of circularity. Essentially, this means designing ways where waste is essentially non-existent, where it is turned into something useful and this this system goes round and round. Our goal was to ensure circularity as a city, while reducing the environmental footprint.
Documentary films do not have many takers in India. What are your expectations from the second edition of ALT EFF?
The reason why documentary films are not given enough attention is because there aren’t enough platforms in India. Lack of funding is another reason. When there are more film festivals that celebrate documentaries and lesser-known stories, it will translate into more people picking up this format of filmmaking.
This year we want to inspire the youth to cover environmental topics. It would be ideal if fictional films would also highlight this important aspect, but let’s see how that goes.
Currently we aspire to obtain more traction in the form of funding which would help us fund students and other aspiring film makers to go out and cover important topics. To view the films being screened and to know more about ALT EFF, visit alteff.in.
