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Award-Winning Documentary Tours Kerala, India

The award-winning documentary film “Saving Walden’s World” is currently touring Kerala from Trivandrum to Alleppey until November 15. The film’s director Jim Merkel first came to Kerala in 1993 on an EarthWatch Fellowship to learn and experience the so-called “Kerala Model” of development, warts and all. Jim returned in 2018 with an Emmy Award winning cinematographer, David Wright and worked with CDS researcher Santhi Rajasekhar to put-to-screen the work of Kudumbashree, Green Kerala and Dr. M.S. Sunil.

The film also captures the Cuban revolution’s parallel literacy and land reform movements of the late 50’s, fighting colonialism and how these efforts led to higher human development, longevity and lower birth rates and infant mortality.

The film’s producer Santhi Rajasekhar secured interviews with T.N. Seema, M.S. Sunil, Usha Nair, J. Devika, Thomas Isaac, Harikishore and Dr Ramankutty. Beyond these notable “experts” the film goes into communities in Pathanamthitta, Iddikki and Alleppey filming Kudumashree women’s empowerment neighborhood groups in action, growing organic food, making backpacks for school children and providing organic milk to the doorstep.

Saving Walden’s World was just selected for the Asian Film Festival in Los Angeles Hollywood, making it the 15th acceptance to international film festivals worldwide, winning 8 awards.

Before coming to Kerala, the film screened in New York City as part of the UN’s Summit of the Future with the Kerala organization KNUNAI, the Kerala Forum on United Nations Academic Impact.

Kerala has made incredible progress on the United Nations 17 SDGs or Sustainable Development Goals decades ahead of the 2030 timeframe. At this summit, nations around the world were seeking case-studies of how to eradicate poverty and empower women.

This Kerala tour began as a brain-child of Saji Thomas of KFUNAI. The film’s director, New York born, now residing in rural coastal Maine has traveled to Kerala along with Saji. The tour began October 24 and will continue with a dozen more screenings before Jim returns home on November 15. The film has already screened at CMS College, TKM Engineering College, Providence College of Engineering, Mar Theophilus Training College, the Center for Development Studies (CDS) and at the Chalachithra Film Academy in Kazhakkoottam. See www.savingwaldensworld.org for detailed information on the upcoming screenings.

Contacts:

jimimerkel@gmail.com, +91 9207543121

santhirajasekhar@gmail.com, +91 96458 52870

Film Trailer: https://youtu.be/an4LqG9mLlM

Film Website: www.savingwaldensworld.org

Here is a bit more about the film:

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THE FILM

When a young arms dealer discovers his work is harming families in less affluent societies, he has an ethical crisis and begins a decades long journey to redeem himself and make the world a better place. SAVING WALDEN’S WORLD is a revealing new film following Jim Merkel as he raises Walden, a budding scientist, in an off-the-grid homestead and wonders: could the very people his past-life’s work targeted, hold the keys to a sustainable planet?

A journey into “enemy” territory ensues, meeting powerful women who reshape society to

work for all. Far from affluent utopias, Kerala, Cuba and Slovenia offer women free college, access to contraception, maternity leave, childcare, dentistry and healthcare. Services unimaginable in much of Jim’s blue-collar America.

As earth temperatures soar, the stakes couldn’t get higher.

THE FILM EXPLORES:

● How land reform, literacy and universal higher education dramatically increase well-being

● How family planning, child care and public health programs yielded results similar to advanced European social democracies in "poor" societies

● How many of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals were achieved by empowered women