Film phase:Production
SYNOPSIS
In the biodiverse village of Barekuri in Northeast India, 37-year-old fisherman Sidhanta has dedicated much of his time to defending the Hoolock Gibbons, the country’s sole ape species. While the apes coexist with villagers in delicate harmony, a devastating oilfield blast in May 2020 disrupts this equilibrium. Our Hoolocks chronicles Sidhanta’s journey through the socio-economic fallout of the disaster on his livelihood as well as on the fate of the endangered apes. As Sidhanta faces the moral quandary of a job offer at a new oil rig, the film explores the complex interplay between environmental conservation and economic necessity. Our Hoolocks serves as both a cautionary tale, symbolizing the endangered Hoolocks’ uncertain future, and a lyrical reflection on the intricate relationship between humanity and nature in our ever-changing world.
Our Hoolocks is a participant of the 2024 (Egg)celerator Lab.
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
Ragini Nath (she/her) is a documentary filmmaker and photographer based in Assam. She studied documentary filmmaking at The New School in New York,and has worked on film projects for the History Channel, Netflix, Disney Hotstar, and Bollywood. She previously worked at the intersection of journalism, film, and social change, and her photography has been exhibited at the Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival, Angkor Photo Festival, and India Photo Festival. Our Hoolocks is her first feature-length documentary.
Social media handles: Instagram
Chinmoy Sonowal (he/him) is a documentary filmmaker and landscape photographer. He has studied creative documentary filmmaking at Sri Aurobindo Center for Arts and Communication in New Delhi. He has a keen interest in working for films that revolve around conservation, natural history, and resource politics. His first film, Bound By Us, (2019), looked at the impacts of human intervention on a forest bordered by the city of New Delhi, and was screened at the Dharamshala International Film Festival, the Kolkata International Film Festival, and elsewhere. Our Hoolocks is his first feature-length documentary.
Social media handles: Instagram
ABOUT THE PRODUCERS
Gary Byung-Seok Kam (he/him) is the first-ever Korean documentary producer nominated for an Oscar® and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He produced Planet of Snail (2011), which was the first Asian documentary to win Best Feature-Length Documentary at IDFA. His recent filmography includes the Oscar®-nominated In the Absence (2018), the award-winning documentary Shadow Flowers (2019), and Crossing Beyond, the official Olympic film for the 2018 Pyeong Chang Winter Olympics.
Kweighbaye Kotee (she/her) is a Liberian-American film producer and writer. Her filmography includes Bushwick Diaries (2015), Hello Sickness (2023) and Indie Cinema New York: ICNY (2015). Developing creative platforms that equally include women and other underrepresented voices is a personal mission of hers, and is a significant component of her projects and businesses, which include the Bushwick Film Festival and the Bushwick Film Institute. Kweighbaye also runs the consulting group Local Citizens, where she works with corporate companies to build internal programs that support diverse creators and low income-communities. In 2021, Kweighbaye was selected by Lucy Liu to receive the Jane Walker IFundWomen’s First Women Grant for her groundbreaking work.