Community Media/MARAA/Community Radio/Participation/Film Screening

There are multiple reasons as to why a film screening could work in a participation module. These reasons are:


 * It is a fun activity which can built team spirit
 * It is a good way to get various community members in to one place which is public
 * It can build identity for the radio station as well as for the reporters
 * Rapport building exercise

Case Study for Radio Bundelkhand

After much discussion, it was agreed upon to screen a mainstream commercial comedy film, which would attract lot of community members to come out and watch. Due to lack of time, there was not much time to prepare for this village film screening. Thus, the event was marred by logistical issues. First, one part of the team reached the village an hour and a half late, and the other group did not enter the village before the first team citing fear of drunk men loitering around. Secondly, it took about 45 minutes to arrange for power, to get the laptop running, and finally the decided film did not play on the laptop. Luckily there were some back up film options and another film was played. However, again this was a bad choice, since the first 20 minutes of the film is in English, and a lot of community members tuned out. Finally, some one broke the electrical wires in the grid by mistake, and it would be a good two hours till power came back. Finally, we decided to cancel the screening and call it a day. However, the big lesson from this event was not the mistakes in themselves, but the reaction of the team. Some members came forward and tried frantically to help out in every way to ensure smooth screening, while other members of the team stayed behind with the audience, and were too scared to come forward and help out. This created a division between team members, and clearly showed a lack of unity amongst the team. Perhaps this was also an indication of the beginnings of ego conflicts rising within some of the participants.