Environment film fest gets bigger

Hindustan Times, Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Vinayak Chakravorty

The Centre for Media Studies (CMS) is back with its annual film festival of environment and wildlife films. Titled Vatavaran 2005, the festival will be held at the India Habitat Centre from November 21 to 24.
"When we launched the festival in 2002, many wondered if there were enough wildlife films to sustain it. This year, we received 244 entries, of which 47 were short-listed for competition," said CMS's Dr. N. Bhaskar Rao.
The jury headed by eminent filmmaker Shyam Benegal, was in town to watch the participating films of the festival, the theme of which this year is 'forest and life'. "I didn't realize so many young filmmakers seriously consider Wildlife as a theme in our country," said Benegal. "Given the finance crunch that docu-filmmakers face, and the widely-regarded notion that the genre is a thankless one, 244 entries is a laudable effort, to say the least. Some of these entries are by student filmmakers. Going by the quality, I revise my opinion that film education in India is below standard."
Present at the Press meet was also Mark Runacres, Deputy High Commissioner, The British High Commission. The High Commission is collaborating with CMS to award the UK Environmental Film Fellowships on Climate Change to four deserving filmmakers. "This event is so important to me that I decided to forego watching England thrash Australia in cricket, to attend it," joked Runacres, adding: "collaborating in this festival is part of a broader partnership between India and Britain on environmental issues."
Speaking on the occasion, Sudhir Mital, joint secretary, ministry of environment and forest, said: " Film isn't the ministry's direct focus, but we decided to associate ourselves with the festival as we were impressed by the good show by CMS over the years, we would want the festival to be a traveling one, and go to a rural areas too, because people outside cities are closest to nature. "The ministry has reportedly given a Rs. 30 lakh aid to CMS for the event.
The festival this year has also attracted the attention of United Nation's Environment Programme. UN delegates are expected to attend the gala in November, where nine awards will be given in seven different categories.