Srishti Lakhera

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA under Explorations will situate the Yarshagumba, a medicinal mushroom in the upper Himalayas, as a nodal point to study the shifts in narratives of the pastoral Rung community as they move between one world with digital networks and another with oral traditions and myths, while harvesting this precious herbal produce used in Chinese medicine. Srishti Lakhera is the Coordinator for this project.

Srishti Lakhera is an independent documentary filmmaker. Her debut documentary feature Ek Tha Gaon is being screened in many international festivals currently, including IDSFFK. In 2019 she co-directed Ishq Dosti & All That, a film produced for PSBT. She has produced films for UNISDR, Forest Department of Uttarakhand, Doordarshan and News Asia to name a few. Srishti has been associated with grassroots organisations across India to conduct filmmaking workshops for marginalised communities. Given her experience he is best placed to be the Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

This project centres on the harvesting of a medicinal mushroom –Yarshagumba - by the pastoral Rung community of Pithoragarh. The project considers it as a nodal point that connects two different networks – the natural, fungal, and the digital. The community considers the mountain sacred. It has the tundra grasslands with fairies that they believe in. During summer when they go up to these upper Himalayan villages to harvest the mushroom they experience total digital isolation. However in the winter months, when they come down to trade the mushrooms which are a precious ingredient in Chinese medicine, they return to the digital networks. The project will explore an artistic form to mark this narrative of the community as it shifts between a world with digital networks and the other with oral traditions and myths. The metaphor of the mushroom serves as a central idea - a botanical network in the biosphere.

The outcome of the project will be a script, a storyboard and a pitch trailer for a future film. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be this script, storyboard and the pitch trailer. 

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Practice programme in the manner in which it attempts to explore the transitions in the lives of a pastoral community in the fringes of the national territory with intermittent access to digital networks. The non-human entity of medicinal mushroom connects the conception of the various networks - the botanical, digital and mythical.

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.

This project is made possible with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment Fund.