The Last Bamboo / Koneya Bidiru
Meera Krishnamurthy / Animation / India / Kannada / 06:32 / 2025
Lantana camara, an invasive shrub and its allies Uppilu (Mistletoe), Bilirojiga (Siam Weed), and Karikaddi (Mexican Devil) scheme to take over the BR Hills, located in the Western Ghats in India. With Bhumi Tayi (Land) as witness, the film explores the history of the landscape that led to its current state.
In a world where cultural burning is deemed illegal and the indigenous knowledge and sensibilities are excluded, the film foregrounds the Soliga community’s worldview and wisdom. Bhumi Tayi speaking in Soliga nudi is confronted by Lantana, which cheekily responds in Kannada, as the disappearance of the native bamboo in the region is visualized by stop-motion sequences, hand-drawn animations, and use of archival images from the region.
Cast & Crew:
Director: Meera Krishnamurthy
Writer: Mahesha J, Meera Krishnamurthy, Samira Agnihotri, Vinay K Kumar
Cast: Kethamma Kalyani Podu, Mahesha J
DoP, Editor: Meera Krishnamurthy
Music: Haaduke written by Samira Agnihotri
Performed by Kethamma (Kalyani Podu)
Director’s Bio
Meera Krishnamurthy is an animation filmmaker from Bangalore, Karnataka, with a focus on mixed-media stop-motion animation. She has directed and animated narrative shorts and non-fiction films. Her films have screened at festivals such as Animafest Zagreb, Animela Mumbai, and Sci560, among others. Her work explores the real and the imagined through the use of found objects, archives, and frame-by-frame drawings. She teaches experimental animation as a visiting faculty member at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology. In 2023, she was the coordinator in a project implemented by the India Foundation for the Arts with the SL Bhatia History of Medicine Museum, where the outcome of the project, a film, is now part of the museum’s permanent collection.
