Woods Were Lovely Dark and Deep....

English/30min 30sec/2002
Producer: Dinesh Lakhanpal, Lakhanpal Productions
Supported by: IUCN

Subject Focus: Conservation of biodiversity with special focus on access to traditional knowledge and benefit sharing.

Summary: An indigenous Indian tribe, Kani’s from Agsthayar Hills in the southern state of Kerala, has been awarded the Intellectual Property Rights to the active ingredients of a plant, long known to it as helping to combat stress, in a move that the government hopes will end the ‘piracy’ of tribal knowledge by both Indian and foreign drug companies. While tracing the history of the case itself and trying to understand the issue of access to traditional knowledge and benefit sharing, the film probes an equally larger issue of biodiversity conservation, IPR regimes, and patents debates.

Producer’s/Director’s Profile: Dinesh Lakhanpal is a Vice-President, Indian Film Directors Association, Mumbai, Member of Association of Moving Picture and Television Programme Producers, Mumbai and a member of Indian Film Writers Association. He worked as an associate director with Sai Paranjpye in the making of her 1st two feature films Sparsh (The Touch) and Chasme Buddoor (Remain Away the Evil Eye). Sparsh won Three National Awards and Chashme Buddoor is considered as one of the best comedy films. He has produced many features and fiction work. Documentaries produced and directed by him are Hindi Hain Hum (We Are Hindi), Woods Were Lovely Dark & Deep. It was released at World Summit for Sustainable Development, 2002, Johannesburg, South Africa. Winner of Intermedia Gold Globe Award at 4th World Media Festival, May 2003, Hamburg. His film Chandi Prasad Bhatt ki Kahani Banaam Chipko Andolan – (Jungle is my mother’s home) on Internationally renowned Environment Movement, Chipko Movement (Hug the Tree) of Western Himalayas which bagged its leader Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership, Berlin Senate’s Special Award at Green week Film Festival, Berlin as the Best film on environmental protection. The film won three international awards. His film Benefit for Whom at Whose Cost? produced and directed for Ministry of Environment and Forest won two National Awards for the Best Investigative Film. Has also received German Televisions Special Award with Citation and 2000 DM and Certificate of Merit for the same film at Care for Nature Environment Film Festival, Bangalore, India.