Filmmaking Workshop

DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING WORKSHOP IN LADAKH CONCLUDES WITH 15 SHORT FILMS !

On 3rd October 2021, culminated one of its kind documentary filmmaking workshop in Ladakh, with a
screening of 15 short films made by 27 participants coming from 11 states of India – Assam, Andhra,
Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal, Karnataka, Maharashtra, New Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand;
there were 6 Ladakhi participants, 2 from Auroville and 1 from Italy.
The 45 days experiential workshop was a collaboration between the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives,
Ladakh (HIAL) and Auroville Film Institute (AVFI) from Auroville, an international township near
Pondicherry, in South India. HIAL, committed to collaborative teaching and learning, had a promising
coming together with the AVFI, committed to the pedagogy and production of conscious cinema. The
workshop was designed and conducted by the filmmaker duo – Richa Hushing and Rrivu Laha, Founding
Directors of AVFI. Gitanjali J B, Co-Founder and Dean of HIAL was instrumental in facilitating this
collaboration.
This filmmaking workshop was anchored in the principles of deep ecology, an environmental philosophy
that understands self as deeply connected with and as part of nature, not disassociated with it. “Like all
AVFI workshops, this one too was designed in the exploration of 3S : Self-Surrounding-Story. We
encouraged the participants to look around in response to inner curiosities and concerns. We believed in
the authenticity of narratives that would spring from an authentic interaction between the self and the
surrounding. The films made are a miracle!” exclaimed Richa Hushing, one of the course directors.