Ideate    Design    Experience

Hangover, The Hidden Costs of Campus Festivals


Campus festivals have changed character, from being the culmination of creative youth energy to becoming wasteful displays of wealth. Hangover is a film about the impact that a college festival can have on the environment and society, and invokes youth to think, act and party differently. College cultural celebrations have caught up with the commercial trend successfully. However, this commercialization has come at a cost to the environment and youth culture.

Even as recently as five years ago, campus festivals were not extravagant, less wasteful of resources, and more reflective of a youth culture where youth are in control. Where once support was sought from small entrepreneurs, students, local businesses and alumni, today's festivals are almost totally sponsored and controlled by multinational corporations. This film draws the relevance between the youth lifestyles and their ecological footprint.

This short film probes into critical aspects of campus festival celebrations at IIT Madras during Saarang 2005. This film was shot with students from IIT Madras, students from other colleges along with “We Feel Responsible”.

This film was screened in IIT Campus for the students and faculty to discuss and elicit their “points of view” regarding factors to be considered for the forth coming Saarang celebrations at IIT Madras which was one of the key objectives of this film.

Hangover was also screened in other college campuses to sensitize the youth regarding different crucial issues pertaining to funding, sponsorships, creativity and sense of partying.