Director’s Statement
Many films are made about solar use and renewable energy. Why this one? This film is not to educate us about what we can do in the developed world. The film is made to make us aware of what 1.3 billion off-‐grid people in the rest of the world can do to enter the 21st century in a sustainable way while producing no carbon-‐footprint.
What does the Title mean?
The quest for energy is the search for a higher standard of living by the impoverished and simple villagers and farmers of the Sundarbans region. The region is wedged between India and Bangladesh. Their journey in 2012 is the path we did not take in the Industrial Age, when the rest of the developed world burned coal and fossil fuels for energy. Their quest is also for clean energy to maintain their most precious resource, their environment.
Filming and Living Off-Grid
Shooting in the Sundarbans, India, was not easy. The 102F temperature and 99% humidity bear down on the skin with a ton of weight. During rainy season, I slipped on the wet clay shore and fell onto the video camera while trying to board the boat. The shooting process produced zero carbon emissions because even battery charging and transporting video files onto hard drives was powered by the local hybrid mini-‐grid power plant.
Budget
The film budget was under $8,000 over a course of three years and three trips to the location. Partial funding was from PSC-‐CUNY Research Grant, a Leonard & Tow Travel Grant, personal funds and support from co-‐producer colleagues like Micha Tomkiewicz and Ryoya Terao. Other CUNY faculty and students who have significantly contributed to this project are Associate Professor Erik Larson, Chin Sheng “William” Hsieh, and Linda Brieda.