• Research House, Saket Community Centre, New Delhi
  • +91 11 2685 1660
  • info@cmsvatavaran.org

#CMSVATAVARAN2019 Awards


National Films

Category - Best of Festival

Ajay Bedi & Vijay Bedi
Film - THE SECRET LIFE OF FROGS
Deep in the swampy rainforests of India, live tiny creatures as old as dinosaurs. Sadly, more than 80% of the 400 species of amphibians found in India are endangered. Some have not been seen from years & yet still a mystery to science. A wildlife photographer & filmmaker Vijay Bedi is on a 3 year long quest to capture species that have their own unique behavioral facts hitherto unknown to science, documenting the same for the first time ever.

Category - Amateur & Youth Films

Gunjan Menon
Film - The Firefox Guardian
Red Panda numbers are dangerously decreasing and there could be less than 2500 red pandas left in the wild. But an unconventional warrior has devoted her life to fight all forces that are against her and her beloved Red Pandas. The Firefox Guardian takes you on a mesmerizing journey through dense bamboo jungles in Nepal while exploring a special bond between the unique ‘Firefoxes’ and Menuka, a simple village girl. The twelve-minute story, follows Menuka, the first female forest guardian working with the Red Panda Network, as she tries to find a Panda juvenile to see if last season’s wild Panda reproduction was successful.

Category - Animation

Kalp Sanghvi & Upamanyu Bhattacharyya
Film - Kinara ('The Edge')
'Kinara' aims to highlight the human-tiger conflict in the reserve forest areas of India. Intended primarily to sensitize locals actually living with the problem, the film seeks to, in as simple and stark a manner as possible, show tigers as living, loving creatures who deserve our protection and empathy.

Category - Celebrating Himalayas

Shriniwas Oli
Film - Koti Banal
Kotibanal is a Documentary about traditional architecture in Himalayan Region. The whole Himalayan region is very sensitive to seismic activities. In some areas of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, there has been a tradition of Earthquake-Resistant Architecture. These houses are made of wooden and stone and some are also of four and five floors. This style of building is known as the Kotibanal Architecture. Many earthquakes have occurred in the past in Himalayan Region. Some severe earthquakes have caused a catastrophe in this area. Despite the frequent earthquakes, the buildings of Kotibanal style remained safe.

Category - Celebrating Himalayas

Nirmal Chander Dandriyal
Film - Moti Bagh (Special Jury Mention)
83 year old Vidyadutt Sharma holds the record for growing the heaviest radish in India weighing 23 kgs. He now aims to beat the world record of 31 kgs. Over the last five decades, he has built up Moti Bagh, his 5 acre farm in a small Himalayan village in northern India. Around him lie 7000 ghost villages, left to die, with no one to till the land – a chilling testimony to large scale migration by locals in search of employment in the cities. With no manpower at their disposal, the few locals are employing Nepali labour. But there is unease because of this dependence and the growing influence of the Nepalis. As market forces exert pressure, family dynamics are also changing. Vidyadutt's journalist son, Tribhuvan, lives and works in Pauri, a large town 35 kms from Moti Bagh. His two children wish to chase their own dreams in the metros. Vidyadutt Sharma, farmer, activist and poet, chronicles the changing landscape in verses of resistance. As he and Ram Singh, his Nepali farmhand, plough the fields to keep a dream called Moti Bagh alive, we wonder if it will ever return to its old glory.

Category - Climate Change: Adaptation & Mitigation

Anoop Khajuria
Film - The Golden Thread
Muga - the worm and its rich silk. The Muga Mekhela Chador – the traditional dress of the Assamese woman - remains an emblem that will never fade. The golden thread from Muga is endemic to Assam-India’s North-eastern state.In Assam where Muga sericulture was once the primary means of livelihood, the vagaries of climate change have caused a damage difficult to reverse. Down the last 2 decades and more the focus has shifted from the gold of Muga to the reds and browns of lesser fabrics. Summers now are too hot for the Muga worm to survive. It’s too delicate, too unreliable an enterprise. Rising temperatures… together with flood and drought have taken a toll on rearing activity in last few years.

Category - Climate Change: Adaptation & Mitigation

Nitin Das
Film - India's Healing Forest (Special Jury Mention)
Let us travel across some fascinating forests of India to explore the amazing ways in which nature affects our body, mind and spirit. Let us uncover some ancient wisdom and examine new findings on the role of nature from birth to death of a human life.The film unfolds through the inspiring stories of people whose lives are intricately woven with forests. Through their experiences we learn about the remarkable healing powers of nature.

Category - Livelihoods & Sustainable Technologies

Umesh Malan
Film - Golden Toilet
‘Golden Toilet’ it is based on a ‘True Story’ in rural Maharashtra where it is very rare for houses to have a toilet. People have to go to some secluded spot or open fields a far distance from the habitat to answer the call of nature. When a girl comes of age, answering a call of nature becomes an embarrassing thing. The girl has to go before the dawn breaks or wait for the darkness late in the evening. This poses serious threat to personal security, causes a mental dilemma and often affects the physical health of the girl. This movie is one such story about a concerned mother who is determined to build a toilet at home.

Category - Livelihoods & Sustainable Technologies

Devshree Nath
Film - Naisargi (Special Jury Mention)
The use of sanitary napkins has increased in India, driven predominantly by the government. But the effort suffers from multiple problems–the quality and supply of sanitary napkins, lack of awareness and unsafe disposal techniques.Traditionally, women used cloth for protection during menstruation, washing and reusing them repeatedly. Those who are poor use rags, ash, or husk. Lack of menstrual hygiene results in diseases such as urinary/reproductive tract infections as well as bacterial vaginosis.

Category - PSA

Anshul Sinha
Film - Waterman
A lot of Indigenous societies often view water as a living entity or a relative, to which they have a sacred responsibility. Such a perspective frequently conflicts with settler societies’ view of water as a “resource” that can be owned, managed, and exploited. Waterman is a fictional character in the film, that shows the message of "Water Comes From Very Far Respect It"

Category - Schools Students Film

Samarth Singh
Film - What do you care about?
The film is a travelogue that comes with a strong message. The Maldives, a paradise island known for its spectacular beauty is a haven for holiday goers around the world. The films attempts to highlight that all is not well in paradise. Maldives is sinking. And it is a direct consequence of global warming. ‘What do you care about?’ is an attempt to educate people on the real issues that we face as a result of our negligence and lack of awareness.

Category - Wildlife Conservation

Ajay Bedi & Vijay Bedi
Film - THE SECRET LIFE OF FROGS
Deep in the swampy rainforests of India, live tiny creatures as old as dinosaurs. Sadly, more than 80% of the 400 species of amphibians found in India are endangered. Some have not been seen from years & yet still a mystery to science. A wildlife photographer & filmmaker Vijay Bedi is on a 3 year long quest to capture species that have their own unique behavioral facts hitherto unknown to science, documenting the same for the first time ever.

International Films

Category - Amateur & Youth Films

Karthic SS
Film -SNIPER
In New Zealand’s South Island, Yellow-eyed Penguin numbers have been declining steadily. Though the Wildlife Hospital in Dunedin plays a huge role in providing medical care to the injured birds, tracking down the shy and rare hoihos is tricky business. Former Ranger Leith Thomson’s intelligent Wire-haired vizsla, Sniper is one of the 80 certified Conservation Dogs in New Zealand, deployed to track and protect wildlife. And she is the only dog trained to sniff out Yellow-eyed Penguins.

Category - Animation

Maria Alvarez & Elisa Morais
Film -The Art of Change - Climate Change
This film offers new perspectives on how social and political institutions can respond more effectively to climate change by presenting a concept of moral responsibility that assesses each human being living in the society. The film puts to use a kind of alternative reality to approach the moral dilemmas around climate change and man’s role in it. We witness an alternative reality scenario where a group of animals has become organized and are committed to make themselves heard by humans, guerrilla style. It is a surrealist take on human responsibility over climate change and on our inescapable connection with nature.

Category - Climate Change: Adaptation & Mitigation

K M Taj Biul Hasan
Film -Education on the boat –a new hope for tomorrow
This film talks about the issue of climate adaptation. It tells the story of the people of Northeastern regions of Bangladesh, dealing with the climatic adverse condition of ‘Cholon Beel’, the biggest wetland of this region. These areas are fully marshland and are inundated by water 8 to 9 months a year. As a result, the children suffer the most with very limited access to education. A non-profitable organization has come forward with an amazing idea to promote education and basic human needs of that impoverished regions. They have leveraged the natural event of these regions- 'Water' and 'Boat' simultaneously to build up a scheme called "Education on the Boat".

Category - Environment Conservation

Valli Bindana
Film -SuryaGanga
The film tries to unravel the impacts of big energy projects on water, people, their habitats and the environment.When the Ganges riverbed dries up in the Himalayas due to intensified damming, curious 6 year old Anu who has been hearing wonderful mythological stories about the river, asks "if the river is not there, why read stories about it?" Mom Valli decides to get some answers. And so they pack their bags and with brother Marthand set out on an adventure across the vast Indian landscape filming the social and environmental (specifically water) impact of big energy projects - hydro and coal and witness the rise of solar and wind.

Category - Livelihoods & Sustainable Technologies

Kaelyn Maehara
Film -By the water
Made famous by his work with Sea Shepherd Global, Siddharth Chakravarty, has returned home to India, to help advocate for the traditional livelihoods under threat by a piece of draft legislation, called CRZ 2018. CRZ 2018, if implemented, will open India’s entire 7,500 km coastline to industry and development; leaving the 170 million people who live mostly by traditional fishing means, out of options. The fishing village of Baguran Jalpai, in the northeast of India, is one of the coastal villages that are now fighting for their very existence. Here, Sid he meets villagers who are struggling to survive from the livelihoods they have known for thousands of years and he discovers the new and exploding industry of shrimp farming.

Category - Wildlife Conservation (More than 40 Min)

Fathollah Amiri
Film -Vortex (Special Jury Mention)
The film is about a wildlife documentarian accompanied by a biologist and forest renegers who are trying to estimate the real number of Cheetahs in Iran. They divide the 10 habitats of cheetahs into 2 major territories and commence their quest by planting trap cameras in sensitive and most cheetah populated areas.Since the number of Asiatic cheetahs is much lesser compared to its African type, observing these cheetahs in the flesh in nature and documenting it, is nearly impossible. Fathollah Amiri as an experienced wildlife documentarian, being helped by a cheetah researcher Dr. Bagher Nezami will represent you with images that are being seen for the very first time in human history and probably also the last.

Category - Wildlife Conservation (More than 40 Min)

Asgeir Helgestad
Film -Queen without land
This is the true story of the meeting between Frost, a beautiful polar bear mother, and Asgeir Helgestad, the filmmaker. Rising temperatures are responsible for dramatic changes in Frost's ecosystem as the ice is melting at record speed. From complete darkness to the absolute light of the midnight sun, Svalbard transforms from a cold and inhospitable place to the most joyous and lively scene for ice algae, fish, birds and animals. Fjords that were once full of ice and seals get abandoned pushing Frost further away. This film explores the question "this planet is home to all of us, can we afford to ignore it?"

Category - Wildlife Conservation (Upto 40 Min)

Andreas Ewels
Film -The Python Code
The Python is a fascinating animal. But the fashion industry is hunting for these beautiful snakes. Its skin is coveted for luxury goods of all kinds. Hundreds of thousands of snakes are killed annually in Asia and shipped to the fashion industry in Europe, America, Japan and China. A German-South African scientist now has an idea to control especially the illegal snake trade. An extremely exciting documentary, filmed under difficult conditions, which also documents the lives of the catchers and shows the illegal trade routes. A closer look at the snake skin industry - as it has never been shown.

Young Environment Journalist Award

IHCAP CMS Environment Journalist Award

Ms Nidhi Jammwal
Environment Editor, Gaon Connection
She writes in-depth reports and is an adept storyteller. Her reporting on climate change is vivid and have the capacity to stimulate action.

IHCAP CMS Young Environment Journalist Award (Online Media)

Mr Bhasker Tripathi
IndiaSpend
His writings are lucid in understanding how climate change is transforming every aspect of our lives.

IHCAP CMS Young Environment Journalist Award (Electronic)

Ms Milan Sharma
Aaj Tak
Her reporting stands out for its ability to lay out the impact of pollution in vivid manner.

IHCAP CMS Young Environment Journlist Award (Print)

Ms Jayshree Nandi
Hindustan Times
Her unique style of writing forces you to take a hard look on pollution and makes us evaluate the narrative of climate change

IHCAP CMS Young Environment Journlist Award (Print)

Mr Rahul Manav
Dainik Jagran
He presents facts in simple human interest manner and motivates people to take action.

CMS Prithvi Bhushan Award - Mr. Rajendra Singh

"Rajinder Singh ji’s work has been historic in its scope and inspirational in its impact. Known as the ‘Waterman of India’ his extraordinary work on water conservation has revived five river systems, bringing back water to more than a thousand villages."

Our Partners

Asia’s Biggest Green Film Festival

Register Now