Wildlife filmmakers face cash crunch

The Asian Age, Saturday, November 26, 2005

Vatavaran 2005, a four-day-long film festival held at the India Habitat Centre from November 21-24, explored varied issues related to wildlife and environment

Conceived by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), the festival not only recognized the efforts of the filmmakers but also sensitized the audience. As compared to the 100 films in the first year of the festival in 2000, it saw the screening of some 244 national and international films, CMS chairman, Dr.N.Bhaskara Rao, asserted that “the films have shown a significant qualitative growth”.

Though the filmmakers were keen about their respective screenings, but the festival was enveloped by an air of discontent.
While some expressed their concern about the absence of a domestic industry for wildlife and environment films, others blamed the government for its lack of support.
"Wildlife films call for a huge investment both in terms of time and money. The quality of the film suffers because of financial constraints," says director Krishnendu Bose.
Apart from the equipment, work force and other express, the government charges anything between Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000 per day from directors to shoot in national parks and wildlife reserves.
According to most of the filmmakers, another thing that needs to be taken care of is proper publicity of these films. Shekhar Dattatri, an eminent wildlife filmmaker reveals that even after investing almost Rs 20 to 25 lakhs, films do not find a proper distributor and many of them simply get dumped.
"Apart from NDTV none of the 24X7 channels have slots for our films and there is a huge competition when it comes to international channels like BBC, Discovery, NGC or Animal Planet".
Cameraman and producer Naresh Bedi, who was conferred with the Prithvi Ratna Award, also hinted at the dearth of professional schools to train young enthusiasts in the finer aspects of wildlife filmmaking.
Despite hurdles at the production level, the final product managed to hook the audience with interesting themes and presentation. Moving ahead of stereotypical blue-chip (films that portray and timeless) movies, the films featured people and talked about conservation.
"A strong story line depicting human and animal life and environment in a concrete whole is an essential element as it helps the viewers to identify with the situation," said Richard Brock, executive producer of the UK's Living Planet Production.