Press Coverage
Filmmakers call for judicious mix

The Assam Tribune, Sunday, November 26, 2006

GUWAHATI, Nov 25 – Eminent documentary filmmaker Krishnendu Bose today said that reconciling the conflict between environmental concerns and development was a major challenge before environment filmmakers. Taking part at a workshop on ‘Green Media and Green Films in North-east India’ organized as part of the ongoing CMS Vatavaran-2006 Environment and Wildlife Travelling Film Festival at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre, Bose said that taking either of the extreme stands could not be termed a healthy trend. “One should place everything on the table and maintain a balance,” he said.

An environment filmmaker with over 20 years experience, Bose said that understanding nature and environment constituted a never-ending learning process. “It is a vast, all-encompassing subject, and the learning process never ends. And it is not just about trees and animals… it can be as political as it can get,” he said.

Bose said that ‘film literacy’ in the country was increasing, but the number of environmental films meant exclusively for children was still far too little.

Darryl D’ Monte, chairperson of Forum of Environmental Journalists of India and International Federation of Environmental Journalists, who chaired the deliberations, expressed concern over the ‘obsession’ among the filmmakers with particular species while making a film. Further, he said, often the films were not backed by sufficient research.

“Many environmental films generally tend to focus on some particular species of animals such as the elephant, rhino, etc., to the extent that the viewer does not get to see the whole picture. Moreover, many of the films are rather poor in research,” D’Monte said.

D’Monte also felt that the environmental journalist was a rare species with the constant focus given on the media-constructed notion of a ‘lifestyle.’

Filmmaker Gautam Bora, Amba Jamir, director, The Missing Link, and Dilip Chandan, editor, Asom Bani were the other panelist who took part in the proceedings.

Bora referred to the conflict between development and protection to environment and advocated a healthy equilibrium between the two.

While Jamir spoke on community participation in the development process so that the grassroots people got their due share of the benefits, Chandan said that the media in the North-east had been able to focus on environmental issues in the manner it should have. “This is mainly due to the existence of constraints relating to manpower, infrastructure, and also policy of the newspapers that do not encourage specialization on the subject,” he said.

Jamir felt that very little was done to harness the age-old wisdom and traditional knowledge of the communities in the process of development.

Earlier, Dr Amarjyoti Choudhury, Vice-Chancellor, Gautahi University, while inaugurating the workshop, said that the concept ‘nurture nature’ was inherent in Indian philosophy and way of living since ages.

“However, it appears that we have missed the lead somewhere and the modern-day scientific knowledge has not been used for the betterment of the quality of life as it should have been,” he said, adding that it was manifested in the overexploitation of nature everywhere.

Advocating sustainable development for meeting human needs, Dr Choudhury said that man could not be separated from the ambience or environment in which he lived. “This makes it imperative that we learn to show respect to nature and environment,” he added.

Dr Choudhury further said that film and the media could play a pivotal role in reaching out to the masses in conveying the message of conservation, and stressed the need for having more such festivals.

The workshop included a question-answer session where school and college students, environmental activists, etc., participated.

The second session of the day witnessed an interface of environment filmmakers of the North-east with an audience comprising a cross-section of people, with the youth being a dominant constituent. Chaired by Jamir, the session was addressed by Mauleenath Senapati, Jyoti Prasad Das, Gautam Saikia and Sanjit Kumar Roy.

number of acclaimed environmental films are scheduled for screening tomorrow, the concluding day of the festival. The screening will begin from 10 am at the Leaf Tea Auction Hall of the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre.