‘The Coal Story’, a documentary film about the ongoing revolution against turning Goa into a coal hub was released recently. NT BUZZ gets in touch with the directors to know more
RAMANDEEP KAUR | NT BUZZ
The story of the coal issue is nothing new to Goans but that does not stop people from creating more awareness on the same. And in a similar effort, Marc Francis and Mohan Kumar have come up with a documentary film ‘The Coal Story’. Released a few days back on YouTube, the docu-film is directed by Francis while Kumar has co-directed it. The film is produced by not-for-profit organisation, Living Heritage Foundation (LHF) of which the duo are the directors along with Pria Sule.
Francis who has made close to 300 short films so far, says that the Fondation likes to make films on social and conservation issues. And the idea of ‘The Coal Story’, he says, came about when protests started happening against turning Goa into a coal hub. At that time, they were making a film about Mollem called the ‘Art of Destruction’ on account of the artist movement that fuelled the fight for Mollem. This film was released last year in July. “When we finished making the ‘Art of Destruction’ we realised that there is more to the story than what meets the eye. So we set out to do some research and what we found out was groundbreaking and scary. It was a story that needed to be told, which is why ‘The Coal Story’ happened,” he says.
Francis and team started to look at each of the three mega infrastructure projects and started realising that these things are not being done for the betterment of Goa or for Goans, but rather for the transportation of coal. In the process, they realised that Goa was going to pay a huge price with people losing their homes, Goa losing its forests, and the state’s biodiversity being affected.
“The coal is not for the Goans. So the docu-film is basically about Goa being at the risk from people who are transporting coal or people who are actually importing coal into India that is not meant for the Goans but is meant for something else, for steel plants in Karnataka and Maharashtra,” says Francis.
The docu-film features residents from areas affected by these projects, experts, and a prominent line-up of Goan activists. “To get the real picture of the story, we needed to find out what the villagers of the affected places are feeling and what they have to say about it,” says Francis, adding that they needed to understand many aspects of the story to be able to tell a convincing story. “It was not just a film. We did not know what we were getting into when we made the film. Each day after the shooting the crew came back with powerful footage which was a shocker to us. When you are making a film like this, each day actually becomes a challenge because each day brings out a new revelation,” he says.
Shot across all the places which are affected by these three projects, ‘The Coal Story’ took about three and a half months to complete. Talking about the response of the film, Francis says that it has been pretty outstanding as a lot of people have a lot of things to say about it. “However, we would like to see more viewers including college students and other youngsters so that they understand what is going wrong with Goa. We need more people to watch it so that they can actually be involved in stopping what is going on here,” he says.
The focus, adds Kumar, was to present a bird’s eye view of the three projects that have been conceived to make Goa a coal transportation hub. “Although, Goans have been protesting this tooth and nail, many are still unaware of the actual implications of these linear projects and we hope this film has connected the dots not just for Goans but for everyone who loves Goa,” he says. Kumar was a former journalist turned freelance writer and documentary filmmaker before starting the Living Heritage Foundation with a bunch of friends in 2018.
‘The Coal Story’, Kumar says is a crucial piece of documentation that everybody should watch and be aware of. “We conducted over 30 interviews during the pandemic to talk about this issue. I feel the time has come for anyone and everyone to actively participate in whatever capacity they can and not just leave it to the handful of activists. Everyone has to do their bit to safeguard the natural beauty of Goa which is under threat from a callous government and myopic corporate,” he says, adding that they will continue to release environment-related video shots through their channel Eco Champions For Goa.
“Our focus is on the environment and any project that may need attention to amplify the voices for an issue. We also manage one of India’s first tree mapping apps, which is an ongoing work that our team does with college students and volunteers in Goa,” says Kumar.