October 17, 2016 Press Note
FIRST EVER RIVER FILM FESTIVAL AND FORUM IN AHMEDABAD& GANDHINAGAR
OCTOBER 19 - 23, 2016 (WEDNESDAY- SUNDAY)
4,000 participants, 45films, 09 partners, 07 venues, 01 platform!
Ahmedabad, October 17, 2016: CMS VATAVARAN is organizing the 7th edition of the internationally acclaimed CMS VATAVARAN Environment and Wildlife International Film Festival and Forum in AhmedabadGandhinagar from October 19 - 23, 2016 as the Sabarmati River Festival. This year the theme of the film festival and forum is ‘Water for Life’and is dedicated to rivers. The festival will showcase best of green films in addition to a host of activities, including media round tablethematic panel discussions;field visits, competitions like slogan writing, photography, poster designing, nukkad drama, dance and drawing.
This unique green festival will be heldat multiple venues (7) across the two cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. In all,there will be screenings of award winning films (45) of CMS VATAVARAN 2015 competitive edition, which also includes films of Gujarati filmmakers and films on Gujarat.
There are two thematic panel discussions in this festival:
- Media Roundtable Discussionon river Sabarmati, its issues and challenges.
- Panel Discussion on ‘Conservation and Sustainable Management of Existing and Potential Coastal and Marine Protected Areas’. GIZ CMPA project is supporting CMS VATAVARAN in organizing this discussion. GIZ CMPA project is part of the Indo-German Biodiversity Programme, a technical cooperation project jointly implemented by the Governments of India and Germany (2012-17). The Project is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) with funds provided under the International Climate Initiative (IKI), in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India.
Both the Panel Discussions will be held at Conference Hall, Chimanbhai Patel Institute of Business Administration.Other venues for the event areVIKSAT,M G Institute of Sciences, Van Chetna Kendra, Vastrapur and Sabarmati Central Jail. There is one screening at Van Chetna Kendra in collaboration with Social Forestry Division at 21st October, Friday.
INAUGURAL CEREMONY
05:30pm – 07:00 pm, Wednesday, September 19, 2016 at Calorx Olive International School, Ahmedabad
The five day long festival is all set to open with a glittering inaugural ceremony at Calorx Olive International School, Ahmedabad on October 19 from 05:30 pm onwards. The Guest of Honourat Inaugural Ceremony are Mr. Kiran Desai, Senior Programme Director, Centre for Environment Education, Dr. Mala Sharma, Director, Chimanbhai Patel Institute of Business Administration, Ahmedabad, ShriHitenVasant, Trustee, Calorx Olive International School and Special Invitee is Environmentalist andShriAshwinTrivedi, Senior Supreme Court Lawyer.The main highlights of the first ever Sabarmati River International Festival and forum in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar are:
- Felicitation of Green Ambassadors: Green Ambassadors of Gujarat will be facilitated in the Inaugural Ceremony. These Green Ambassadors will be felicitated for their outstanding work in the area of water conservation.
- Screening of inaugural film:‘Locals Become Geohydrologists in Rapar’ a seven minute film in Hindi and Gujarati by UshaDewani and Nilutpal Daswill be screened as the inaugural film of the festival.
INDIANANDINTERNATIONALFILMS
It's goingtobe aneventfuljourneyduringthe courseofthesefun filledfivedaysthat would takethepeopleintothediversegeographicalrealmsofourplanet,throughthelens of some ofthefinestenvironment andwildlifefilmmakers. Atotalof45 award winning and nominatedfilmswillbescreened across 9 prominent venues.
OTHER PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS!
- Know your Thol Lake (23rd October): 08:00 am- 10:30 | Field visit toThol Lake
- Competitions like; photography, poster designing, slogan writing in English, Hindi & Gujarati, Nukkad Drama, Dance and Drawing.
“This is a wonderfully engaging platform that engages diverse stakeholders including students, media, film makers, artists, activists and policy maker to be concerned towards their environment. Questioning development decisions and our lifestyle is important takeaway for all participating in this festival, besides the pleasure of watching beautiful films on conservation issues across the globe,” said MrSundeepSrivastav, Festival Coordinator CMS VATAVARAN whileaddressing the media today.
PARTNERS
Ahmedabad CMS VATAVARAN is being organised with active support of our partners. At international level we have partners like American Centre and GIZ (CMPA project). Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change, Government of India at national level and at state level we have partners like Chimanbhai Patel Institute of Business Administration and Calorx Olive International School as State Festival Partners, Centre for Environment Education (CEE) is State Knowledge Partner & VIKSAT is State Programme Partner. M G Institute of Sciences, Van Chetna Kendra, VastrapurPanditDeendayal Petroleum Universityare the Environment Education Partners.
ABOUT CMS VATAVARAN
Initiated in the year 2002 by CMS, CMS VATAVARAN – India’s premier environment and wildlife film festival and forum is aimed towards enhancing understanding, appreciation and shift in attitudes towards the natural world and to increase space for environmental issues in mass media and evolve a nationwide environment outreach framework. The festival reaches out to people from all walks of life including filmmakers, civil society groups, government organizations, environmentalists, researchers, conservationists, policy makers, activists, public and private sector organisations and students of all ages and is recognised as a calendar event amongst filmmakers, environment, wildlife and conservation sector. Its unique twin track approach of organising competitive and traveling film festivals and environment forum has positioned it as one of the most prestigious film festivals across the globe. Till date 40 festivals have been organised in 30 cities of India. The travelling festivals are organised in state capitals and other important towns and cities.
For more information, please contact:
Sundeep C Srivastav, Head Coordination – CMS VATAVARAN
M: 91 9899979169 I
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