on the project and faints upon learning that Devi has died. Nia, too, shares a deep ancestral connection to water— she has a vision of she and her grandmother in a river, evoking an African-American tradition of outdoor baptisms. It is this moment where Nia and Mira become intimately linked through their shared histories of water as a sacred, life-giving force.
In her visit to our class on“ Artists, Social Change, and the Role of Journalism” at
New York University this Spring, Kantayya shared more about her current focus on the clean energy economy with her new film, Catching the Sun. But water still remains an important issue for her. In the interview below, NYU student and young arts activist Vasiliki Eugenis spoke with Kantayya about the connection between water and privilege, how A Drop of Life is used as tool for activism worldwide, and what we’ re not talking about when it comes to water, but should be.
Celeste Hamilton Dennis, Editor
Q: Why choose water as the subject of your film? Was it based on a personal connection you have to this issue of access to clean water?
A: I was on a Fulbright in India in 2001. On a whim, a friend asked me to help him document a religious festival called Kumbh Mela, which is the largest gathering of human beings on the planet. It’ s where an estimated 70 million people come to bathe at the confluence of three rivers: Ganga, Yamuna, and Shipra. I spent 40 days living on the banks of a river and watched these pilgrims take baths. I was moved by people who look at this river as a life-giving mother, and also called into question some cultural practices. You call it mother, but then how do you throw all this paper and plastic into it as offerings?
So, the film developed out of this very intimate relationship I had with the Ganga where people have offered prayers for over a millennia. That sent me on a journey. I started to research fervently about water and water issues. What I learned shook me out of my seat. An estimated four billion people, two thirds of the world’ s population, will not have access to clean drinking water within the next 15 years. Q: You chose science fiction to tell this story, over documentary or drama. A: I’ m a geek and a sci-fi fanatic. I love Star Wars. My life was changed by 1984. I really think sometimes that science fiction can give us a better mirror of reality than even documentary can. This idea of having prepaid water meters on village water pumps where you can’ t get water unless you have money to pay for it is sort of like a science fiction. The more I researched, I realized these water meters existed in 10 countries. I had this
OF NOTE 29