Where Do the Children Play? (2019)

On the night of December 2, 1984, an accident at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, released at least 30 tons of a highly toxic gas called methyl isocyanate, as well as a number of other poisonous gases. The pesticide plant was surrounded by shanty towns, leading to more than 600,000 people being exposed to the deadly gas cloud that night. The gases stayed low to the ground, causing victims throats and eyes to burn, inducing nausea, and many deaths. Estimates of the death toll vary from as few as 3,800 to as many as 16,000, but government figures now refer to an estimate of 15,000 killed over the years. Toxic material remains, and 30 years later, many of those who were exposed to the gas have given birth to physically and mentally disabled children. For decades, survivors have been fighting to have the site cleaned up, but they say the efforts were slowed when Michigan-based Dow Chemical took over Union Carbide in 2001. According to human rights groups thousands of tons of hazardous waste remain buried underground, and the government has conceded the area is contaminated. The film is an expression of solidarity with Bhopal gas victims, survivors of one of the largest industrial disasters, in their ongoing struggle for justice. It documents an over 800 km padayatra taken by the survivors from Bhopal to Delhi to meet the then PM of India, Mr. Manmohan Singh. With the walk, the filmmaker also records the over 30-year movement for justice.