Case Studies

A 225-kilometre water pipeline can be measured in distance and infrastructure. Its impact, however, is experienced very differently in the communities and homes it reaches.

For this film, part of ICICI Foundation’s multi-location impact transformation series, we started with Meghalaya itself. We looked at the local landscape, culture and sound to find a way of telling the story that belonged to the place.

Created with local band Summersalt, the film unfolds as a song, carrying the rhythm of the hills, the presence of water and the quiet changes that come when water reaches people’s homes. Music becomes part of the narrative, not a layer added to it.

Shot in three days with a local crew, the film features real spring water sources, village storage systems, homes and the communities who are the actual beneficiaries.

The film reached more than 10 million viewers on YouTube demonstrating how deeply local storytelling can give an impact story a much wider reach.

See also: Recreating an Ancient Engineering System with AI, another ICICI Foundation project where we went back to the history and engineering of the region to find the story, rather than imposing one on it.