Documentary The Balance Sheet : World Bank & its 80 Year Legacy
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Joe Athialy
Feb 16, 2026, 8:55:58 PMFeb 16
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Documentary The Balance Sheet : World Bank & its 80 Year Legacy @ the 14th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2026
Date & Time: Feb 25, 5.30 pm
Venue: Chennai Institute of Journalism (CIJ)
Next to Anna Centenary Library, Government Data Centre Road, Gandhi Mandapam Salai, Kotturpuram, Chennai, 600085
Date & Time: Feb 25, 5.30 pm
Venue: Chennai Institute of Journalism (CIJ)
Next to Anna Centenary Library, Government Data Centre Road, Gandhi Mandapam Salai, Kotturpuram, Chennai, 600085
For registration: 99406 42044 / 94440 25348
Synopsis:
Synopsis:
The World Bank and IMF celebrated their 80th anniversary in 2024. This documentary looks back at their 8-decade long footprints, the scars they left and the saga of resistance sung by the little people of history against this Goliath.
Situated in the Indian context, it looks at two important struggles from India which significantly altered the functioning of the Bank and shaped the discourse globally around the politics of development finance. Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement) forced the Bank to review the Sardar Sarovar (Narmada) dam project which resulted in Bank cancelling the lending. The review also paved the way for setting up the Inspection Panel, the first independent accountability mechanism in any Multilateral Development Bank across the world.
Several decades later International Finance Corporation’s lending to the ultra-mega Tata Mundra thermal project created havoc in the fishing villages. People were forced to take IFC to court after IFC declined to take any action on the findings of their accountability mechanism, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman. In 2019, in a historic judgment, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the World Bank Group does not enjoy absolute immunity.
While Bank’s project lending and its impact on communities and environment is well documented, some of the other fall outs of their investments are relatively less discussed. For example, how Bank/IMF’s policies exacerbated wealth inequality and promoted austerity or how the Bank and IMF supported and continue to support, aid and abet extreme authoritarian regimes.
While positioned now as a climate champion and climate bank, it is often forgotten that the Bank is one of the key institutions which perpetuated the climate crisis, not just by investing in fossil fuel projects but also religiously promoting a development model based on extraction and exploitation of nature.
Similarly, in the name of digitization and efficiency people are subjected to surveillance, forcing people to adhere to it to avail basic services like subsidized food. Bank has pushed this ahead in collaboration with different philanthropies. While the technology is not failing for the ones who are doing the surveillance, it is failing for the people who are forced into it, resulting in extreme distress, sometimes even death.
Featuring: Nandini Oza, Oral Historian; Medha Patkar, Kamala Yadav, Manglya Pawara, Narmada Bachao Andolan; Bharat Patel, Budha Ismail Jam, Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan; Gajendra Jadeja, President, Navinal Panchayat; Soumya Dutta, Movement for Advancing Understanding on Sustainability And Mutuality, Thomas Franco, Former General Secretary, All India Bank Officers Confederation; Anirban Bhattacharya, Centre for Financial Accountability; Shripad Dharmadhikary, Manthan Adhyayan Kendra; Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South; Usha Ramanathan, Expert on Law and Poverty
This documentary is looking at all these and beyond. These are issues relevant beyond India, in most of the countries the World Bank/IMF invested in. It is looking at the balance sheet of 80 years of the Bank and IMF through the lens of accountability. Captured through extensive interviews of experts and activists and footage from the ground, this documentary looks at these two institutions critically, which have significantly contributed to shaping up the global financial architecture.
Length: 69 mins
Script & Direction: Joe Athialy
Music & Vocals: Rahul Ram
Produced by: Centre for Financial Accountability
Situated in the Indian context, it looks at two important struggles from India which significantly altered the functioning of the Bank and shaped the discourse globally around the politics of development finance. Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement) forced the Bank to review the Sardar Sarovar (Narmada) dam project which resulted in Bank cancelling the lending. The review also paved the way for setting up the Inspection Panel, the first independent accountability mechanism in any Multilateral Development Bank across the world.
Several decades later International Finance Corporation’s lending to the ultra-mega Tata Mundra thermal project created havoc in the fishing villages. People were forced to take IFC to court after IFC declined to take any action on the findings of their accountability mechanism, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman. In 2019, in a historic judgment, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the World Bank Group does not enjoy absolute immunity.
While Bank’s project lending and its impact on communities and environment is well documented, some of the other fall outs of their investments are relatively less discussed. For example, how Bank/IMF’s policies exacerbated wealth inequality and promoted austerity or how the Bank and IMF supported and continue to support, aid and abet extreme authoritarian regimes.
While positioned now as a climate champion and climate bank, it is often forgotten that the Bank is one of the key institutions which perpetuated the climate crisis, not just by investing in fossil fuel projects but also religiously promoting a development model based on extraction and exploitation of nature.
Similarly, in the name of digitization and efficiency people are subjected to surveillance, forcing people to adhere to it to avail basic services like subsidized food. Bank has pushed this ahead in collaboration with different philanthropies. While the technology is not failing for the ones who are doing the surveillance, it is failing for the people who are forced into it, resulting in extreme distress, sometimes even death.
Featuring: Nandini Oza, Oral Historian; Medha Patkar, Kamala Yadav, Manglya Pawara, Narmada Bachao Andolan; Bharat Patel, Budha Ismail Jam, Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan; Gajendra Jadeja, President, Navinal Panchayat; Soumya Dutta, Movement for Advancing Understanding on Sustainability And Mutuality, Thomas Franco, Former General Secretary, All India Bank Officers Confederation; Anirban Bhattacharya, Centre for Financial Accountability; Shripad Dharmadhikary, Manthan Adhyayan Kendra; Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South; Usha Ramanathan, Expert on Law and Poverty
This documentary is looking at all these and beyond. These are issues relevant beyond India, in most of the countries the World Bank/IMF invested in. It is looking at the balance sheet of 80 years of the Bank and IMF through the lens of accountability. Captured through extensive interviews of experts and activists and footage from the ground, this documentary looks at these two institutions critically, which have significantly contributed to shaping up the global financial architecture.
Length: 69 mins
Script & Direction: Joe Athialy
Music & Vocals: Rahul Ram
Produced by: Centre for Financial Accountability
~~
Joe Athialy
Executive Director
Centre for Financial Accountability
Amudhan RP
Feb 16, 2026, 9:39:53 PMFeb 16
to Joe Athialy, in...@googlegroups.com
Welcome Joe!
Amudhan
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