Best of Festival WILD DOG DIARIES Subject Focus:'Wild Dog Diaries' depicts a dhole mother's struggle to keep her family together, raise her pups and elude dangers.
Director: Senani Hegde
Jury Remarks: An extra strong film that charts out the life of wild dog family told with sensitivity in the forest of Southern Western Ghats, and the way the filmmaker won the trust of the dog families where they did not feel threatened. The film shows deep respect not only for the animals but also for local tribal community who have lived "Cheek by jaw" with wildlife over the many centuries. The special mention needs to be made for the editing of the film, which adds Jury Award to its narrating flow
Academy of Animation and Gaming Animation Award KILLING THE FITTEST Subject Focus: The film about roaches considered as pests are unsure of their status and call man in-return the greatest pest to the earth by asserting this ideology through their manifestation.
Director: Santosh D. Kale Jury Remarks: An extremely clever and brilliantly conceived film that compares the roach with the human being and how it attempting to eliminate the best and in the process we are probably on the way to eliminate ourselves
Jury Special Mention Award MYTHS ABOUT YOU Subject Focus: It talks about the evolution of life; winding through the delicately woven threads on which life balances itself.
Director: Nandita Jain
Jury Remarks: Poetic depiction of creation myths, tribal and model is worth mentioning
Children Film Award SHRUTI AND KUKI Subject Focus: Children expressing their concern of the state of environment Director: Meenakshi Vinay Rai Jury Remarks:An extremely charming film with the creative participation of children on the nature of environment & wildlife done with a great sense of comic satire, the directions with which the views are expressed are as truthful as it can get.
Note: The jury shifted this film from Environment Conservation Category to the Children's Film Category.
Commonwealth Centre for Learning Public Service Announcements (PSA) Award SPANDAN Subject Focus: The subject focus is save trees. The film captures the movement initiated to encourage talent among special children through the special way of animation workshops.
Director: Meenakshi Vinay Rai
Jury Remarks: A cooperative effort by children with diverse disabilities for Save Tree Campaign. The extraordinary imagination and fascinating animation style makes the film eminently worthy for the award
Delhi Chief Minister Environmental Conservation EARTH CALLING - EPISODE COORG Subject Focus: Earth Calling is an environment series that looks at ecological concerns in popular tourist destinations and meets people who are fighting the odds to save our environment.
Director: Rita Banerji and Shilpi Sharma
Jury Remarks: An engagingly narrated film on the efforts of the microbiologist Sujata and Anurag in organic farming and Pamela who bought the piece of land to create an elephant corridor that has reduced human - animal conflict and also helps in eco-tourism with power generated from solar and wind energy and alternate organic means totally making life self sufficient
HSBC Festival Theme: Climate Change Award A DEGREE OF CONCERN Film Synopsis: "A Degree of Concern"- is about melting glaciers in Ladakh. The film takes a very close look at how climate change has hit Ladakh.
Director: Syed Fayaz
Jury Remarks: A sensitively made film on the Himalayan Glaciers where even one degree change in temperature can make a huge ecological difference. It brings into focus the problem of the receding glaciers in the Himalayas, which feed the most important rivers of the Indian subcontinent. It also deals with the extraordinary efforts of Chiwang Norfel to create glaciers that would meet the needs of villages in his neighborhood.
Nature Award POINT CALIMERE - LITTLE KINGDOM BY THE COAST Film Synopsis: Point Calimere is a unique sanctuary by the sea in Tamil Nadu, famous for its herds of black buck and flocks of flamingos. In 2002 it was declared a Ramsar Site. This film offers a glimpse into this remarkable ecosystem and the problems that confront it.
Director: Shekar Dattatri
Jury Remarks: A film about Point Calimere probably the smallest wildlife sanctuary in the southern part of Tamil Nadu. The film explores incredible bio-diversity in this tiny bit of land, which is in danger of being overrun, by domestic livestock, stray dogs & Propshis Julifora, which is rampantly growing in the region. Some of the micro photograph needs special mention for its highly revealing nature
Wildlife Conservation Award TIGER -THE DEATH CHRONICLES Film Synopsis: The film travels to tiger hotspots like Sariska, Panna, Buxa, tiger reserves which have been decimated, to unravel nuts and bolts of the crisis
Director: Krishnendu Bose
Jury Remarks:An engaging film, which systematically documents the tiger conservation issues in a holistic manner. The presentation style of this well researched film is worth mentioning.
Wildlife Conservation: Jury Special Mention Award IN THE PINK Film Synopsis: In the Pink is an 'urban wildlife documentary' that investigates the phenomena of 20,000 flamingos choosing to visit Mumbai, and the potential impact on the health of these birds.
Director: Ashima Narain
Jury Remarks: Pointing to the existence of wildlife even in a metropolis like Mumbai.
LEOPARDS IN THE LURCH Film Synopsis: Crime against leopards in the hills, hot only by the professional poachers but also by common people.
Director: Gurmeet Sapal
Jury Remarks: For highlighting the threat of extinction of the leopards because of the growing conflict between animal and man.
TURTLES IN A SOUP Film Synopsis: This film brings to light for the first time, the thriving illegal trade of freshwater turtles in India, and its impact on the country's natural heritage.
Director: Kalpana Subramanian
Jury Remarks: For bringing into focus the role of fresh water turtles in keeping our water bodies free of pollution with hope the policy makers would take notice of the fate of this species and do the necessary conservation.
THERMAX Water for All Award BHANGON (Erosion) Film Synopsis: Displacement of People Due To River Erosion In Bengal And Unscrupulous River Management
Director: Sourav Sarangi
Jury Remarks: A sensitively told emotionally charged story in Bengali, of the damage that has been caused by Farakkha Barrage that is submerging and washing away large track of large tracks of highly fertile land in Malda and Mursheedabad districts of West Bengal. The film points to serious danger of going ahead with ambitious plans of interlinking major rivers and interfering with nature
ZEE News Livelihood Award AMBI JIJI'S RETIREMENT Film Synopsis: The film is about Ambi Jiji who always planted her crops on soil where forests have been burnt. At the end of each year, this jhum field would be abandoned and left to regenerate into a forest and a new one burnt. Jhum fields are increasingly being turned into orchards which provide cash and food security.
Director: Nandini Bedi
Jury Remarks: An extremely thoughtful film looking at the transformation taking place among the tribal community of the north-east where community ownership of the land is inimitably transmitting to individual property. It also shows how multiple crop system are changing over to single crops under the pressure of market economies
ZEE News Student Film Award AHWAAN
Film Synopsis: The film is journey of a young person, questioning urban lifestyle and ones own aspirations for Delhi, While discovering the costs of such development.
Director: Meghna, Rachna, Divya, Yagna, Rohit, Vikas, Sonam, Akash, Paul and Isha
Jury Remarks:The film raises fundamental questions on various developmental paradigms while taking a critical look at the growing metropolis of Delhi.
Television for Education - Asia Pacific TV News Stories Award
However the jury decided to withhold the award, as there were not sufficient numbers of entries to warrant an award. This despite a plethora of news channels in this country. This was a big disappointment.
Young Environmental Journalist Award by Forum for Environmental Journalists of India (FEJI) and CMS Academy BROADCAST JOURNALIST Winner: Bahar Dutt
Jury Remarks: The stories are packed with information, but science properly communicated; making linkages with politicians.
PRINT JOURNALIST Winner: Amar Jyoti Baruah Jury Remarks:The articles are very socially relevant to north-east, comprehensive and well researched
Technical Award for Best Cinematography ANGELS IN TIGERLAND Film Synopsis: This film tells the story of the amazing butterfly fauna of Periyar Tiger Reserve as seen and narrated by the protagonist himself. Other than being a Tiger Reserve it is also a sanctuary for more than three fourth of the 334 butterfly species recorded in South India. The film also shows the first ever video footage of the legendary Travancore Evening Brown butterfly and its life cycle.
Director: Suresh Elamon
Jury Remarks: The beautifully shot film of the many species of butterfly in periyar Tiger reserve. Visually shot with great delicacy, the film is feast to th eyes.
Technical Award for Best Editing THE WHISTLE BLOWERS Film Synopsis: An investigation into the issue of pesticides in bottled water and soft drinks manufactured by reputed MNCs like Coca Cola & Pepsi in India, it was recently revealed in a report by the Center for Science and Environment.
Director: Umesh Aggarwal
Jury Remark:Dynamically edited hard - hitting story of an NGO's crusading effort to nail down powerful MNC's from doing ecological damage
Technical Award for Best Story Telling WILD DOG DIARIES Film Synopsis: 'Wild Dog Diaries' depicts a dhole mother's struggle to keep her family together, raise her pups and elude dangers.
Director: Senani Hegde Jury Remark: The extraordinary story of a family of wild dogs documented on a daily basis, which makes it riveting viewing. It also shows the increasingly rare co-existence of tribal community with wildlife in their habitat
Jury Award RIDING SOLO TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD
Film Synopsis: Riding Solo To The Top Of The World is the unique experience of a lonesome traveler, who rides his motorcycle all the way from Mumbai to one of the remotest places in the World, the Changthang Plateau, in Ladakh, bordering China.
Director: Gaurav Jani
Jury Remark: A marvelous ethnographic rarely seen in recent years. The film stands comparison with Robert Flaherty's work especially "Nanook of the north". Jury award for this incredible one-man effort, which has yielded best ethnographic, film made in India in a long time
Canara Bank CMS -UNEP Prithvi Ratna Award
For outstanding contribution in the field of environment and wildlife filmmaking, conservation and the public's understanding to the environment
Winner Shekar Dattatri
