Filming fauna

Centre for Media Studies, International Cultural Exchange and Wildlife portraits, a city based NGO have jointly organised Vatavaran, an environment and Wildlife film festival between December 5 and 7 at Balgandharva Rangamandir.

Vatavaran 8212; a three-day wild life film festival has been organised at the Balgandharva auditorium to discuss environment issues

Centre for Media Studies, International Cultural Exchange and Wildlife portraits, a city based NGO have jointly organised Vatavaran, an environment and Wildlife film festival between December 5 and 7 at Balgandharva Rangamandir. Organised for the first time in the city, the festival will display over 29 films based on environment, wildlife and issues related to the same.

8220;The festival is conceptualised on the same lines as that of a wildlife festival that takes place every year in Delhi. While the one that took place in 2007 was a competition, the theme for this year is traveling fest. We are organising the fest in Pune as a part of this theme,8221; says Ashwini Sinha, festival manager, CMS.

Before this, the festival has taken place in cities like Agartala, Bhopal, Ranchi and Coimbatore. After the festival in Pune, the destination for the organisers would be Lucknow and Hyderabad. 8220;As a part of the festival we would be showcasing films like Life on Sea Shore by Vilas Kane that depicts the real life on sea shore, In the Pink by Ashima Narain that spans across the changes in lives of flamingos that migrate to Mumbai every year, Mumbai Mega Floods by Maya Rao that in 47 minutes talks about the Mumbai floods in 2006,8221; says Raghunandan Kulkarni, managing trusty, Wildlifeportraits.

Added attractions for the festival are three Hollywood films that are going to be screened under the section- Panorama on climate Change. 8220;The films are 8211; An Inconvenient Truth, The day After Tomorrow and Happy fest. With a motive to create awareness about environment related concerns, we have also organised seminars on climate change at S M Joshi hall, where eight eminent speakers from the respective fields will be expressing their views in front of an audience that includes corporates, environmentalists and nature lovers,8221; adds Kulkarni.

Also a part of the event is a special symposium on the Composition and Livelihood of Security where over three speakers will be interacting with the audience. 8220;Five out of 29 filmmakers are from Pune and we believe that this will serve as a platform for all those who want to raise issues related to environment using films as the medium,8221; says Sinha.