Kochi Biennale Foundation Screens The Leopard’s Tribe

KOCHI:

The Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) organised the screening of an acclaimed documentary film focusing on development-versus-conservation, panning out the message that sustainable construction activities can go hand-in-hand with economic rise and social well-being.

The Leopard’s Tribe, directed by Miriam Chandy Menacherry, essays the acquisition of the Aarey forest area adjoining the bustling Mumbai for building a metro car shed, thus sending a lesson of environmental protection through the existence of an inhabitant tribal community that worships the big cat. For the original population of Aarey in Goregaon renowned for the Sanjay Gandhi National Park called the ‘Lungs of Mumbai’, the leopard is their god of daily worship. Even so, the forest belt is being destroyed for a facility to maintain and repair the local trains that form the core of the megacity’s surface transport.

KBF showed the 39-minute film in Edappally here, amid an active participation of Kochiites owing to the universal relevance of the topic. The screening at the Kerala Museum on Wednesday evening comes five months ahead of the sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) by the KBF.

At a discussion following the screening, Miriam noted that the current times tended to label all those working for environmental protection as anti-development. “None can say no to development,” emphasised the Mumbai-residing Malayali. “But often there is no research or discussion about sustainable construction practices.”

The 2022 documentary was a result of “hard work during the Covid-19 lockdown”, Miriam recalled. “The disappearance of indigenous people and cultures is a common sight in megacities, including Mumbai. For the good old residents around Aarey, the leopards are a part of their lifestyle and culture,” she added.

The Leopard’s Tribe has been screened at several international venues. It also won the One World Media Award in Britain in 2023, the top prize at the All Living Things Environmental Film Festival the next year after earning a Jury Special Award at the 2022 Kerala International Short Film Festival.

Set in Mumbai’s rapidly shrinking green Aarey belt, the film follows an indigenous couple leading a prolonged fight to protect their forest and the leopard they worship from a mass deforestation move by the authorities. Teaming up with wildlife conservationists, they become sentries of the forest and climate defenders of the city.

KMB-6, titled ‘For the Time Being’, will be a 110-day show beginning on December 12. Curated by artist Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces, an artist-led organisation based out of Goa, the biennale will conclude on March 31, 2026.