From a bigger and better fifth edition of the International Film Festival on water, the guide brings you a list of 10 must-watch films

A collection of 52 films makes its way to town with yet another edition of the Voices from the Water: International Film Festival on Water. Spread across six venues and three days, the festival first took birth from the Forum for Fundamental Right to Water in 2004.

In its fifth edition now, Voices from the Water is more than a film festival and has earned the status of an open platform and holds more relevance with the statement made by Shekhar Kapur a few days ago about soft drink manufacturers and their usage of irrigation water leaving the farmers high and dry.

The inaugural function will be attended by actor Umashree of Gulabi Talkies fame and filmmaker, actor and environmentalist Suresh Heblikar. The highlight this year is on Bangalore's water crisis and films from the city that go out to address the issue.

Ten MiD DAY Picks

Addicted to Plastic
Country: Canada,
Director: Ian Connacher,
Duration: 85min
The film details 100 years of plastic as it discovers a toxic legacy and also, the men and women who are dedicated to cleaning it up.

Soul of Water
Country: Sweden,
Director: Kurt Skoog,
Duration: 57min
The documentary breaks down water: right from the structure of a molecule, waterways in the landscape, from the microcosmos to the macrocosmos, from science to emotion and poetry.

Water and a City
Country: India,
Director: Swati Dandekar,
Duration: 52min
Set in Bangalore, the film traces the journey of water in and out of urban homes. Along this journey, it looks at access to water for the poor, the politics of water pricing, urban India's continuous exploitation of natural resources, and explores possible alternatives for a sustainable water future.

The Waters of Chenini
Country: Italy/Tunisia,
Director: Elisa Mereghetti,
Duration: 15min
This is an essential document that captures the rhythm and colour of the life and industry that bustles in and around the oasis of Chenini, near Gabes (Tunisia), the only marine oasis of the Mediterranean.

World of Water
Country: Peru,
Director: Carlo Brescia,
Duration: 34min
Drifting upstream from 2,000 meters above sea level to 5,000 meters, World of Water encounters people and their culture, stories, histories and beliefs against the impossibly lush and breathtaking landscapes of southern Conchucos, Peru.

Be Water, My Friend
Country: Italy/Uzbekistan
Director: Antonio Martino
Duration: 14min
Muynaq, a little city on the coast of the Aral Sea is on its way to becoming a ghost town. The beach is but a strip of dry land where the carcasses of rotting ships are anchored to dust, the waters which once made it a thriving tourist spot are a mere memory.

Parobas
Country: India,
Director: Sudipta Mukhopadhaya, Duration: 41min
This is the tale of the disenfranchised, the tale of an unfortunate group of people from a forbidden island of deprivation and deception. Once proud farmers, they are now cursed without even the basic amenities.

Renukaji in Delhi's Taps
Country: India
Director: Kurush Canteenwala Duration: 30min
At the cost of Rs 3,500 crore, a dam has been planned across the Giri River, submerging 1630 hectares of the Renuka Valley in Himachal Pradesh. The plan is to meet Delhi's unending demands for water, at the usual cost of displacing societies, apart from submerging fertile and irreplaceable forest land.

The Damned Rain
Country: India
Director: Satish Manwar
Duration: 95min
The film is set in the villages of Vidarbha in Maharashtra where farmers commit suicide as their lands stay parched and their debts accumulate.

H2Oil
Country: Canada,
Director: Shannon Walsh,
Duration: 77min
A voyage of discovery, heartbreak and politicization occurs in the stories of those attempting to defend water in Alberta against tar sands(crude petroleum deposits) expansion.u00a0 .