Vatavaran, India's Primer Environment and Wildlife Film Festival is crossing India's periphery for the first time to screen topical and award winning films on poignant local and national environmental and wildlife issues.

Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi in association with Embassy of India, Abu Dhabi is organizing Abu Dhabi Vatavaran - Indian Environment and Wildlife Film Festival from June 28 - 30, 2006 at India Social & Cultural Centre, Cinema Hall, Abu Dhabi. The Festival is being supported by India Social & Cultural Centre and Kerala Social Centre with AMRITA Television and UAEXCHANGE as its partners.

"Vatavaran, is a film festival with a difference, it is a movement to create concern and compassion for the environment through the powerful medium of documentaries" says Alka Tomar, Festival Director. "This year, we are committed to spread the environmental awareness campaign to far off regions, and the festival in Abu Dhabi, UAE is a step in this direction" continues the director.

The three-day of the festival offers a unique opportunity to view an amazing array of ten of the best intriguing CMS Vatavaran films on topical Indian environment and wildlife issues with global perspective. The festival aims at reaching a larger audience and highlighting the concerns of Indian environment and wildlife issues on an international platform. The Festival will be formally inaugurated by H.E. Mr. C M Bhandari, Indian Ambassador, UAE.

The remarkable part of this festival will be special screenings for children comprising of eight films spread over four days in the month of July 2006 after the three-day screenings. Some of the films that will be a part of the Vatavaran bouquet are Miles to Go on Bhopal gas tragedy, A Second Hand Life on electronic waste business, The Many Faces of Madness on ecological destruction, etc. Children screenings will have The Policing Langur on monkey menace, Shores of Silence - Whale Sharks in India on conservation of whale sharks, etc. to name a few.