In the early hours of December 3, 1984, while the city of Bhopal, India was still waking up to face another winter morning, a tank holding toxic Methyl Isocyanate gas (MIC) got overheated and released 40 tonnes of gas at the Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant. What came to be known as the worst industrial disaster in the history immediately killed 3,000 people and has caused about 22,000 deaths to date.
This film examines the Bhopal disaster through the context of increasing globalization and questions the tremendous influence that corporate giants wield throughout the 'developing' world. The documentary was released on the sixteenth anniversary of the Bhopal disaster. The film has won awards and is used as a teaching resource on globalization and environmental justice by Universities in the United States and Australia.
Filmmaker Pavithra Narayanan is Assistant Professor of Postcolonial Literature, Film Theory and Production and Women's Studies, at Washington State University Vancouver, Washington. Economic policies, gender, and globalization, with a focus on India, are the central issues in her publications. She has a strong commitment to community-engaged research and has for the last several years focused considerable energy in producing documentaries that engage critical issues in contemporary Indian culture.
"I see film as one of the most powerful media for talking about social issues," reflects Professor Narayanan. "It's one thing to give a talk, and it's another to do a film that really show people what's happening."
Professor Narayanan is currently working on a documentary that is exploring the growing national movement to resist military rule in northeast India. The focus of the film is on arms deals.
Her film on Bhopal has been screened at several educational institutions and conferences around the country including:
Liberal Arts Series, Washington State University Tricities. By the Dept. of Digital Culture and Technologies, April 2007.
University of Oregon School of Law, Eugene. By the International Law Society, November 2006.
Human Security Lectures. By Western Washington University, Bellingham, February 2006.
Washington State University Vancouver. Dr. Clay Mosher's Honor's class — Disaster: Natural, Social and Political Forces Collide, January 2006.
Washington DC area South Asian activists, December 2005.
Washington State University Pullman. By the Department of Women's Studies, February 2005.
Washington State University Vancouver. By the Center for Social and Environmental Justice, December 2004.
Film Festival at Washington DC. By Association for India's Development, November 2004.
Conference at University of Texas, Austin. By Association for India's Development, March 2003.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. By Justice for Bhopal, November 2002.
San Diego Human Rights Film Festival. By Amnesty International, September 2002.
The South Asian Film Series, Washington D.C. By DC Collective, August 2002.
South Asian Films, Washington D.C. By 3rd i, May 2002.
University of Oregon, Eugene. By the School of Journalism & Communication, September 2001.
30th Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, Wisconsin, October 2001.
Conference on Communication and Environment. By University of Cincinnati, OH, July 2001.
Conference on Globalization, Princeton University, New Jersey. By ASHA, May 2001.
Conference at University of Maryland. By Association for India's Development, May 2001.
