Who attends Good Pitch Local?

A curated audience of Filmmakers, Foundations, Nonprofits, Local Activists, Brands, Educators, Lawyers, Mediamakers, Media Platforms, Philanthropists, Policymakers, Press and more.

How does it work?

An equal number of media makers and organizations pitch projects and ideas in an expertly moderated program of three-minute pitches. Then the room discusses how they might help.

They may offer

ACCESS to resources that support creation, distribution and outreach for the media projects

FINANCIAL RESOURCES often in the form of micro-grants of ₹50,000 - ₹100000

PARTNERSHIPS that strengthen campaigns and movements

TIME & EXPERTISE individuals commit their skills, talent and experience to one another.Type your paragraph here.

1. Driving with Selvi | Women's Empowerment

Mediamaker - Elisa Paloschi drivingwithselvi.com

Driving with Selviis an award winning feature documentary about Selvi, a former child bride, who escaped her violent marriage to become South India’s first female taxi driver.

The film has been screened at over 100 film festivals worldwide and in hundreds of schools in India and Bangladesh. Through facilitated screenings at schools and partnerships with local NGOs, Driving with Selvihas already proven to be an important instrument that supports ground up change efforts in communities where child marriage and gender-based violence are highly prevalent.

Director Elisa Paloschi believes that a shorter version of the film will serve as an accessible tool for training and education, for both organizations, and individuals at grassroots level who are working on female empowerment issues.

2. Tale of a River | Environment

Mediamaker - Abhaya Simha & NAM Ismail

Tale of a Riveris a documentary film to present the real story of the Netravati river diversion project.

River Netravati is an important part of the ecosystem that nourishes the state of Karnataka. The waters and the forest that flank the river are inundated with indigenous and rare flora and fauna. A proposal has been made by the state government to divert the river to benefit the parched cities of Karnataka.

The filmmakers want to use film to consolidate support across communities and organisation to build a movement against this project. The goal is to collaborate with the NGOs and CSOs to research the subject, and create public opinion about the fallout of the project.

3. David Vs Goliath in Uppinabetagiri | Crisis in Agriculture

Mediamaker-Sushma Veerappa

The commercialized Bt cotton as a cash crop has led to soil deficiency. The land fertility thus compromised has led the farmers to seek expensive means of enriching the land.

In the village of Uppinabetagiri, one farmer breaks the cycle of conspicuous consumption as he chooses to grow the brown coloured cotton crop. The seed variety is rain-fed, pest resistant, organically grown, and developed by the local cotton research centre. But in the village there are the other cotton farmers growing Bt white cotton, notoriously popularised by a multinational.

The filmmaker Sushma Veerappa pursues the lone farmer make a case to facilitate the spread of the uptake of brown cotton by other farmers and drive home the the relevance of the local in a globalised world with David Vs Goliath in Uppinabetagiri.

4. Jack Journeys |Food Security

Mediamaker - Vinod Raja

Jackfruit is easy to grow, survives pests, diseases and rising temperatures, resistant to droughts and even famine! In spite of all its miraculous powers, it remains downgraded as the food of the poor in India. An estimated Rs. 8000 crores worth of Jackfruit is wasted in South India alone!

Jack Journeysa short documentary by Director Vinod Raja documents the humble giant of a fruit, bringing to light its amazing qualities, making a case for a very misunderstood fruit.

He is looking to bring the issue upfront while persuading the policymakers and food industry to work for the cause of the fruit.

5. Clean Toilets In Schools | Adolescent girls

Community Leader- Archana K.R.

The only thing that stands in the way of lakhs of adolescent girls across Karnataka from completing their school education is a toilet! After the girls begin having their periods their parents stop sending them to school because of inadequate toilet facilities.

Bangalore-based Independent campaigner Archana KR is on a mission to change that by persuading the Government and other stakeholders to provide clean and safe toilet facilities so that girls fulfil their dreams of becoming school graduates.

She is looking to create a strategy that integrates media to bring about policy changes towards toilets in educational institutions while providing qualitative and quantitative information towards this urgently required change.

6. End Manual Scavenging| Casteism/ Manual Scavenging

Organisation - The News Minute - www.thenewsminute.com

Manual Scavenging is one of the most dehumanizing practise plaguing Indian Society. A stubborn remnant of archaic casteist thinking, manual scavenging is carried out despite being banned by the government of India.

Two journalists are looking to spread information to curb the practise, through a multimedia campaign with feature stories, photo essays, videos, and events, to end the life-threatening, inhumane and casteist practice of manual cleaning of sewers in a targeted manner in Bengaluru.

The campaign aims to eradicate the practice by having one robotic cleaner in each of the 198 civic governance wards, while making every Bengalurean aware of the illegality, insensitivity of the practice.

7. I Never Ask For It | Violence Against Women

Organization - Blank Noise - www.blanknoise.org

The 'I Never Ask For It'mission is a five-year effort to end victim blame by building testimonies of clothing. Project participants bring in the garment they wore when they experienced sexual violence. The clothing are displayed in curated spaces as witnesses of sexual assault of the women they belonged to, questioning the dynamics of sexual violence.

Jasmeen Patheeja of Blank Noise envisions the project to be a safe space for survivors of sexual assault to share their experience without the fear of being judged and shamed while further magnifying the visibility of the issue.

For survivors of sexual assault across Karnataka, a repository of audio testimonials will be a place of connection and healing. In addition, a space is required to conserve the clothing, and display them in a permanent manner.

9. Vegan Karnataka! | Animal Agriculture

Community Leader - Manisha Singh

Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude all forms of exploitation and cruelty to animals for food, clothing and any other purpose.

Activist Manisha Singh leads a multifaceted campaign to promote veganism as a solution to many issues plaguing modern society in Karnataka.

The campaign is looking to increase awareness about the vegan way of life and influence an increasing demand for vegan products and produce, creating supply and demand dynamics which in turn would also impact the long term goal of agricultural policy formulation for a 'Vegan Karnataka’.

10. Reimagining Handlooms in Karnataka | Heritage Skills

Organization - Vimor Handloom Foundation - vimor.in

Karnataka has a rich history in weaving and silk production. Vimor has played a significant role in keeping the enduring traditions of indigenous weaves relevant for the masses. The project is a part of the Vimor Handloom Foundation’s effort at poverty alleviation through weaving.

Through the memory mapping of senior citizens, the expansion of the repository of oral textile design stories is used to skill youth and weavers in sustainable employment, and arrest distressed rural-urban migration. As a part of the project, locally produced silk waste or up-cycled yarn is used in recreating textiles rooted in Karnataka’s heritage.

The Reimagining Handlooms in Karnataka wants to reach out to the villages to inspire the youth to take up the old traditions of weaving. The repository of oral stories collected from the older generation of weavers acts as an archive of knowledge influencing the future of traditional weaves and designs, while diversifying livelihoods in Karnataka.

11. One Battle Won, Many to Conquer | LGBTQIA+

Organisation - Sangama www.sangama.org

One Battle Won and Many to Conquer is a campaign built around a video on the IPC 377 Judgement - decriminalizing same-sex consensual sexual relations between adults in India.

The project is helmed by Sangama, a veteran organization fighting for the rights of LGBTQIA+ in and around Karnataka. The project will facilitate the sexual minority communities across Karnataka to understand the implications of the judgement.

What the judgement means to sexual minorities from different backgrounds, and the new possibilities and challenges that face them, such new and significant shifts in society need to be documented and studied. Towards forging these new impacts the project will create the possibility for Sangama to inclusively decide future campaigns based on the inputs gathered from community members across Karnataka.

12. Ten Fold | Transgender Rights

Organisation - Aravani Art Project www.aravaniartproject.com

Aravani Art Project embraces the need to expand the possibilities and use of public spaces by the Transgender Community by creating consciousness and wellbeing through art, awareness and social participation. The aim of the project Ten-Foldis to have creative interventions in public spaces in 10 Districts around Karnataka.

The project will work on transgender issues which need visibility, awareness and solidarity, through art, to capture the hidden culture, stories, facts, mythology and arrive at a documentary that will be used as an archive for culture and impact studies.

The documentary will further help in the future of policymaking, healthcare, and other interventions that are necessary for the wellbeing of the Transgender Community in Karnataka.

13. Her Stories | Women Empowerment

Organisation - Co-Media Lab - www.comedialab.in

The stories we tell shape our society. The story of a 50-year-old Vijayshree who started off as a garment factory worker and became an entrepreneur, running a beauty parlour for the past 21 years in Bangalore. Hers has been a remarkable story of grit and determination. However, stories like hers seldom make the news.

The project Her Storiesby Co-Media Lab, is aimed at making and distributing similar short videos about the women who went against the grain and emerged as beacons of inspiration for their community.

The videos will in turn be made by women belonging to the marginalized communities, trained to tell stories of their folk, increasing the media literacy within the community, while emancipating the women further.

14. Equity on Streets | Sustainable Mobility

Organisation - Citizens For Sustainability (CiFos) - www.cifos.weebly.com

The streets of a city are its lifeline. All form of travel and commerce flow through them. Right of the way therefore becomes the very spine of how the culture of a city evolves. However, the mobility within the city functions far beyond the parameters of civility, where streets increasingly are experienced as inhospitable places, especially for pedestrians and cyclists.

The distorted usage of a commonly held good i.e. roads, as a conduit for vehicles with bias towards the motor vehicle as having the right of the way on the city streets is rampant. The need to instil a new mobility culture is crucial for the ever growing city.

Equity on Streetsis an initiative by CiFos to bring about a behaviour change in drivers of motor vehicles, while creating new approaches to address the inequity in street life.

15. Kanoon Ke Saath | Legal Awareness

Organisation – Nyaaya - www.nyaaya.in

Laws are made for the benefit of the people but it is intimidating for a layperson to apply them because they are not always easy to understand. Kanoon ke Saathenvisions infographic video tutorials breaking down the complicated laws into more digestible bytes.

It aims at giving accurate, practical and actionable legal information to the people about their rights and responsibilities while interacting with the police and justice system. The campaign by Nyaaya will function as a compendium of videos that will be accessible to all to learn their rights during legal processes especially for situations such as complaints, arrests and applications for bail.

The campaign requires a creative strategist, ground-level support for research and funding to make its content accessible and accurate.