Milestones

2019: The 10th Competitive edition will be organized on the theme - “Celebrating Himalayas.” The festival will be held in November from 27th to 30th, 2019 at New Delhi.

2018: The 8th Travelling Festival was organized from March to October in Bangalore and in 4 Himalayan cities namely Darjeeling, Agartala, Srinagar and Nahan.

2017: The 9th Competitive Edition was organized at GSDS Rajghat, New Delhi from 2nd to 6th November, on the topic of “Conservation 4 Water.” The jury nominated total 113 films (61 National & 52 International) from 332 entries (173 National & 159 International Films) for the Festival.

2016: The 7th Travelling Festival from September to December 2016 of CMS VATAVARAN was dedicated to 7 of the large and small rivers of India – Brahmaputra (Guwahati), Mula-Mutha (Pune), Sabarmati (Ahmedabad), Ganga (Allahabad), Nethravati (Mangalore), Cauvery (Trichirrappalli), and Musi (Hyderabad).

2015: The 8th Competitive Edition of CMS VATAVARAN was organised from October 9th to 13th at the NDMC Convention Centre. The five-day film festival and forum featured screenings (nominated films, panorama of film festivals and Bollywood films), forums on water issues, workshops for students, teachers, journalists and filmmakers, exhibitions, green haat, and tribal food festival. Close to 5000 participants were part of the 8th CMS VATAVARAN. In consonance with the festival theme of Water for Life, on-ground activities were carried out from the month of April which included Water Festivals in 24 schools, 3 colleges and institutions of Delhi-NCR in August to September 2015, water themed poster competition, etc.

2014: The 6th Travelling Edition of CMS VATAVARAN was organised at five locations i.e. Puducherry, Agra, Amritsar, Gangtok, and Raipur.

2013: The 7th CMS VATAVARAN: Environment & Wildlife Film Festival and Forum held at the IGNCA Lawns, New Delhi, India from (Thursday - Monday) Jan 30th - Feb 03rd, 2014 featured around 112 films and more than 100 eminent speakers in 70 thematic sessions and expert discussions in six specially curated lawns.

2012: CMS VATAVARAN travelled to Dehradun, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Kolkata with programmes built around the theme of Biodiversity Conservation. The Festival and Forum was held in 51 locations and 37 days. There were 250 film screenings, 4 panel discussions, 3 green filmmaking workshops, 3 media roundtables, 3 eco-tours (theme: Healing The Forest), biodiversity quiz, biodiversity mapping and felicitation of 16 grassroots individuals. It witnessed an overwhelming participation of 47,736 people from different sections of the society. Also, Hyderabad CMS VATAVARAN - Biodiversity Film Festival was organised for 11th Conference of the Parties (COP-11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) delegates

2011: The theme for the Sixth Edition of the CMS VATAVARAN - Competitive Film Festival was Biodiversity. The jury consisted of 37 members who nominated 68 films (51 Indian films from 22 states and 17 international films from 27 countries) from 317 entries for the festival.

2010: The Fourth Travelling Film Festival went to 8 cities (Shimla, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Port Blair, Shillong, Bhubaneswar, Patna and Ahmedabad) across India, with film screenings at more than 70 venues and participation of nearly 95,000 people. For the first time 'Green Heroes' were also felicitated.

2009: The Fifth Competitive Film Festival attracted 366 entries from 20 Indian states and 23 foreign countries. Shri Jahnu Barua, eminent film director was the chairperson of CMS VATAVARAN 2009 Award Jury.

2008: The Third Travelling Film Festival screened 304 films over a span of 24 days in 8 cities. Six national and 51 state partners lent support and approx. 80,000 participants attended.

2007: The Fourth Competitive Film Festival drew 275 entries from 19 countries. Awards for technical excellence and the Young Environmental Journalist Award (YEJA) were initiated. Renowned filmmaker Shri Shyam Benegal was the jury chairperson.

2006: The Travelling Film Festival went overseas to Abu Dhabi and Sao Paulo apart from visiting 10 Indian cities - Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kashmir, Kolkata, Pune, Ranchi and Sirmour.

2005: The Third Competitive Film Festival received 244 entries. The steering committee was chaired by Dr Karan Singh and Shri Shyam Benegal headed the Award Jury.

2004: The First Travelling Film Festival went to Chennai, Coimbatore and Mumbai. People began recognising and supporting the CMS VATAVARAN environment awareness movement.

2003: The Second Competitive Film Festival became biennial. CMS and UNEP instituted an award 'Prithvi Ratna' (Jewel of Earth) for extraordinary contribution to wildlife filmmaking and natural history.

2002: India's one and only environment and wildlife Film Festival - CMS VATAVARAN - began its maiden run. The initiative was supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.

(For more details, click on the year)