Press Release
New Delhi, 07 October 2006

The second day of Bangalore CMS VATAVARAN 2006

Centre for Media Studies (CMS) is in the Garden City of India for the first time to organise the Bangalore CMS VATAVARAN 2006 'Environment and Wildlife Travelling Film Festival'. The festival started yesterday and will continue till October 8, 2006 at the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore. The festival is India's only premier Environment and Wildlife Film Festival and it brings an opportunity to view an array of films on topical, Indian environment and wildlife issues.

Centre for Media Studies (CMS), New Delhi in collaboration with Suchitra Film Society and Alliance Francaise de Bangalore in association with Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF) and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) is organising the festival. Supporting this initiative is the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.

Day 1 of the festival started with the inaugural ceremony which was honoured by the presence of Mr A K Varma, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Bangalore as the Guest of Honour. The festival felicitated Bangalore filmmakers Nina Subramani and K P Sasi for their effort to highlight the local environment issues of the region. The day also saw a symposium on 'Managing Electronic Waste' including film screenings in the evening. Premiering last evening was the CMS Fellowship film by Prayas Abhinav and Manjushree titled "Leaving No Trace…Cyclist in the City".

Today the focus will be on children with the screening of several acclaimed films. To name a few, we have "Chasing Butterflies" by Gurmeet Sapal, Husain Akbar and Pervaiz Alam; "A Brush with Death" by Syed fayaz; "Birds through my Window" by Rudransh Mathur; "King Cobra" by Romulous earl Whitaker and more. Sensitizing children about the nature that prevails becomes essential in this digital world becomes the objective behind the initiative. The afternoon will have a symposia on "Wildlife-Human Conflicts: What Is The Way Forward?" which is being held in collaboration with Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF). A film titled "Elephant God or Destroyer" by renowned filmmaker Mr Krishnendu Bose made on the same theme will be part of the symposia. The evening will have a French film titled Darwin's Nightmare or "Le cauchemare de Darwin", by Hubert Sauper.

The third and the last day will have film screening for all age groups from the morning till late evening.

For more information contact:
CMS VATAVARAN Film Festival Directorate
Rohit Singh
p: 91-11-2499 2597, 265 222 44, 2686 40 20
E: Rohit Singh
M: 09899979158
www.cmsvatavaran.org