The 9th Kirloskar Vasundhara International Film Festival aims to present topical films related to wildlife, energy, air and water. And apart from path-breaking cinematc work in these felds, film buffs can look forward to participating in programmes (see Plus Points guide) geared to sensitise people about the environment.

Titled Zero Waste: Begins With Us, the festival will screen 140 nationally and internationally acclaimed films in various formats like shorts, documentaries and small message movies. "The films shown will be based on topics as diverse as environmental issues, positive efforts taken to care for the environment, and success stories of such endeavours. Wildlife movies from 25 countries are on the schedule," says Virendra Chitrav. The festival has been divided into various sections like animation, wildlife, success stories, earth care, water conservation, waste management, endangered species and mountaineering.

The must-watch films at the festival include award-winning Canadian filmmaker Amy Miller's The Carbon Rush and Forgotten Tigers. While Carbon Rush is about the suffering caused by carbon trading around the world and the failure of global carbon markets to stop climate change, Forgotten Tigers shows the deteriorating condition of tigers that live outside tiger reserves.

Plus Points

Morning Walks: During the festival, morning walks curated to educate participants on different subjects will be organised between 7 am to 10 am

Zero Waste: This film deals with various topics related to waste management and is produced by Dr Priyadarshini Karve.

WHERE: Kirloskar Pneumatics Ltd, Hadapsar.

WHEN: January 17

Photography exhibition by Dhritiman Mukherjee: The photographer from Kolkata will host his first solo exhibition. An informal interaction with him has been organised for nature enthusiasts and photographers.

WHERE: Raja Ravi Varma Art Gallery, Ghole Road

WHEN: January 22, 6 pm

Eco Journalism Conference: There will be a lecture on changing trends in environmental journalism by Chaitrali Chandorkar and a panel discussion on Reporting Environmental Issues. Renowned journalists from Maharashtra will participate in the event. Atul Deulgaonkar will be the chief guest at the conference.

WHERE: Patrakar Sangh, Navi Peth

WHEN: January 22, 2 pm

Conference on Ornithology: Dr Satish Pande and his group have come up with an interesting mobile app that can help bird watchers contribute data to create a document on bird species. All these details will be discussed at the conference.

WHERE: Garware College

WHEN: January 9, 8-10 pm

Conference on Forest Waste: Maharashtra Forest Department will present a conference on garbage issues in forest areas.

WHERE: Yashada, SB Road

WHEN: January 22, 10 am

♦ Photo walk at Tata Lake, January 17

♦ Rock Climbing session at Fergusson Hill, January 18

♦ Waste Walk at Fergusson Hill, January 19

♦ Children visit at Urja Udyan Ramanbaug, January 20

♦ River clean up walk from Savarkar Smarak, January 21

♦ Waste Walk at Aundh Transfer Station, January 22

♦ Waste Walk at Katraj Zero Garbage Project, January 23