CHAR… the No-man’s Island

The film, which has already been shown at the Berlinale, portrays the situation of the inhabitants of the border region between India and Bangladesh on the banks of the River Ganga. Human intervention in the course of the river is increasingly leading to erosion, flooding and landslides. Local residents often lose their land, their homes and their livelihoods as a result. Instead of support, those affected experience persecution and criminalization because they are forced to settle on islands in the no man's land between the two countries and to live from smuggling.

Meet Rubel, a fourteen years old boy smuggling rice from India to Bangladesh. He has to cross the river Ganga acting as the international border. The same river eroded his home in mainland India when he was just four. 

Years later a fragile island called Char was formed within the large river. With his family and a herd of homeless people, Rubel decided to settle in this barren expanse controlled by the border police from both the countries. 

Rubel dreams of going to his old school in India but reality forces him to smuggle stuff to Bangladesh. 

After a scorching summer dark monsoon clouds roll on; the river swells up again. We see the edges of island cracking.

“Char may disappear someday but we won’t”, smiles the boy.

Guest: Sourav Sarangi, maker of the film "CHAR... the No-man's Island"

Moderation: Dorothee Wenner, filmmaker/film curator

The film screening and the subsequent discussion will be held in English. Questions to the director can also be asked in German and will be translated spontaneously.

To register for the event, please click here.

Contact: 
Felix Speidel
E speidel@boell.de

» Participation on site
at the the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Conference Center, Schumannstr. 8, 10117 Berlin.

Please register in advance. Unfortunately, the number of seats for this event are limited.