Words on Water

For over 15 years, the people of the Narmada Valley in central India have been resisting a series of massive dams on their river. While the government promised better water distribution, by now only few farmers even have access to water at all. Merely twenty percent of the fertile farmlands can be watered. Meanwhile, almost all the supplies are used to fulfill the needs of industry, rich landowners and urban communities. In their struggle, the inhabitants of the Narmada Valley have exposed the deceptive heart of India’s development politics. In a world where the use of violence has become the arbiter of most political debate, Words on Water is about a sustained non-violent resistance, an almost joyous defiance, which empowers the people as the struggle for their rights, yet saves them from the ultimate humiliation of violence. (DOK.fest München)