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A four-YEAR-OLD tigress from Ranthambore National Park is transported to the Sariska tiger reserve as part of an experiment that has never been attempted before. She, along with a hot-blooded male of the species, has been sent in to start of new feline dynasty and reclaim lost territory. This tigress, Baghani, is the protagonist of National Award-winning wildlife filmmaker Subbiah Nallamuthu’s Tiger Dynasty, produced by BBC’s Natural World unit. "I’ve been filming her since she was a cub. Tigers are my passion," he says. In the wilds of neighbouring Nepal, a 26-year-old man is driven by pretty much the same kind of commitment. Inspired by Jane Goodall, he is on a concerted crusade to protect animals from cruelty and extinction. The man, Manoj Gautam, who set up Nepal’s first wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre, is now the subject of We Are in the Field, a documentary by American filmmaker Gabriel Diamond. The latter followed Manoj over 11 days as the young environmental activist traversed the country to further his fight against poachers and smugglers. And in a remote rain-deficient part of Kenya where Norwegian activist-filmmaker Julia Dahr’s Wind of Change is set, Kisilu Musya, a tenacious farmer fights climate change and the resultant water scarcity, even as he struggles to keep himself and his family of nine afloat against all odds. He is faced with severe drought but Kisilu isn’t one to lose hope. "It is important to be strong," he says. "If I cry, my wife will cry too, and then, the children will all cry. So I stand firm." At the end of the film, he issues an appeal "to the entire world to unite and fight climate change". These are just three of the many amazing stories that will unspool and compete for awards at the upcoming 7th CMS Vatavaran Environment and Wildlife Film Festival and Forum, targeted at creating awareness about the need and ways for mankind to live "in harmony with nature". The event, which will showcase the best of biodiversity cinema from around the world, is scheduled to run for five days from January 30 to February 3 on the lawns of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) in New Delhi. The latest edition of the festival, now in its 11th year overall, will screen more than 150 films, besides hosting an array of expert sessions, a green mart and an organic food stall. The ‘festival and forum’ is a celebration of human beings and animals fighting to survive in the face of environmental degradation caused by greed and unsustainable development. It is aimed at encouraging the use of the cinematic medium to record the setbacks and triumphs in the battle for biodiversity conservation. Vatavaran, organised by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), takes the form of a competitive festival every alternate year and this is the seventh in that series. Every other year, the festival becomes a travelling event that has since 2002 been to 30 cities of 26 Indian states. The theme of this year’s festival is "mainstreaming biodiversity conservation". Some truly outstanding films about initiatives to protect the world that we live in will throw light on the challenges that confront many communities and the breakthroughs that have been achieved. One of the most striking entries this year is People of a Feather, made by Arctic ecologist and cinematographer Joel Heath in collaboration with the people of the Inuit village of Sanikiluaq. Filmed over seven winters, this 90-minute film is an unsettling yet breathtaking journey into the lives of the Inuit people and the eider ducks on the Belcher Islands of Canada’s Hudson Bay. Eider down, which is the warmest feather in the world, is absolutely essential for survival in the Arctic region but rapid reversals in seasonal patterns and ocean currents have placed the survival of the ducks at stake. Both humans and the sea-ducks are up against the changing dynamics of the harsh environment triggered by massive hydroelectric dams that provide power to the entire eastern seaboard of North America. Similarly pressing is the struggle that is documented in Rita Banerji’s Shifting Undercurrents, a 20-minute film that focuses on a community of women who have been collecting seaweed in the Gulf of Mannar for three centuries but, since the setting up of the Marine National Park there, are being treated as trespassers. Also vying for honours at CMS Vatavaran 2014 will by Naresh Bedi’s Corbett’s Legacy, which pays tribute to the famous hunter’s vision as a conservationist; Kavita Bahl and Nandan Saxena’s Dammed, an expose on how the poorest of the poor fall victim to big dams while super corporations make huge profits; and Finland, a Wild Scandinavia episode that brings alive on the screen Europe’s most densely forested country. Besides the magnificent aurora borealis — the mesmerising Northern Lights — the last-named film has footage of some of the world’s most fascinating Arctic animals that roam free in the northeast of Finland.
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