The Capital's very own environment and wildlife film festival -- CMS Vatavaran -- is round the corner and it is now accepting entries from filmmakers who want to take part in the festival slated to begin on September 12.
This year the festival will see introduction of a new international category allowing quality international productions to be showcased in the Capital.
"The festival, which reaches out to people from all genres including civil society groups, government organisations and environmentalists, is also recognised as a calendar event among filmmakers and wildlife and conservation sector. The theme of the festival this year is climate change that is also in sync with the World Environment Day-2007 slogan `Melting Ice -- A Hot Topic'. The aim of having this theme is to sensitise and motivate people to take action," says Alka Tomar, Festival Director of CMS Vatavaran.
Besides adding an international category, the new initiatives announced by CMS Vatavaran-2007 include a young environmental journalist award and honouring the world's most outstanding documentaries on natural world or conservation theme.
With 18 awards and 12 categories, CMS Vatavaran recognises and awards films in all genres (documentaries, docu-drama, narrative, shorts, advertising campaigns, public service announcements and new media) that inform, educate and foster knowledge, understanding and action on environment, wildlife issues or other socially relevant environment themes.
"CMS Vatavaran is one of the most prestigious, influential and one-of-its-kind national events for the environment and filmmaker fraternity. The festival is about greening the mind and is a movement spotlighting issued of local, regional and national concern. It also aims at creating a dialogue among the various stakeholders. The festival ensures national visibility on a credible platform," says Mou Biswas, Content Manager of CMS Vatavaran. "The festival is an attempt to change minds, attitude and policies and an initiative galvanising the civil society," says Biswas.
The Indian categories in the festival include "Best of the Festival", "Award for Technical Excellence", "Water for All", "Children's Film", "Animation" and "TV News Stories Award", while the international categories include "Animal Behaviour", "Nature and People", "Environment Conservation", and the festival theme, "Climate Change".-- Bindu Shajan Perappadan
