Vasundhara film fest reaches out to students in 35 colleges

PUNE: More than 135 award-winning Indian and international short films, documentaries, animation and feature films will be part of the 8th edition of the Kirloskar Vasundhara International Film Festival that starts on January 17. Climate change, wildlife, energy and water conservation, endangered species and food safety are among the themes that will be dealt with this year.Conferences on serious environmental issues, a literary meet, master classes, environment walks and a full day dedicated to children's activities will be the other attractions of the nine-day festival, which, for the first time, has been extended to more than 35 college campuses in the city.Festival director Virendra Chitrav said, "Over the last few years, we have received a very enthusiastic response from college students. Hence, this year, we decided to take the festival to them by organizing activities on their campuses."The theme of the festival this year is 5 'Rs' -- refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and recover. The inauguration will be done by noted photographer Rajesh Bedi and filmmaker Naresh Bedi at Balgandharv Art Gallery and Balgandharv Rangmandir respectively. The inaugural event will be followed by the screening of 'The Jungle Book Bear' - a film about India's most elusive predator by Oliver Goetzl and Ivo Norenberg and the premier of 'Chilika- the jewel of Odisha' by Shekar Dattari.Screening of award-winning films and retrospective work of renowned German filmmakers Oliver Goetzl and Ivo Norenberg and Indian filmmaker Ashish Chandola, films of International Uranium Film Festival (Brazil) and films of Bedi brothers will be the other attraction. Besides, films on Low-Carbon Pathway, 'Earth Care Award' and 'Ashden Award' winning organizations, films on 'Food Security and Genetically Modified (GM) foods and 'Endangered Species' will also be screened.The 11 award-winning films of the festival competition, including 'My home is green', 'Nata Pashchim Ghatashi' and 'The Tigers, They're All Dead', chosen by the jury, will be screened at the Archive Theatre on Prabhat Road.Chitrav also detailed the line up of allied activities that would be conducted during the course of the festival. "We will organize conferences on issues such as 'Nat Paschim Ghatashi' featuring environmentalists like Madhav Gadgil, Madhukar Bachulkar and Aparna Watve (January 19), Understanding e-waste management (January 20), community-based tourism (January 21), the environmentally sensitive eco-systems of Maharashtra (January 21), the much talked about 'Green Technology' and ways to refresh one's lifestyles with the 5Rs (January 22)," he said.For the first time, one full day (January 23) will be dedicated to children, Chitrav said.Activities for children include activities such as a photo-walk, inter-school quiz competition, a children's conference on 5Rs with presentations by Priyadarshini Karve and Vidula Mhaiskar, a songs-based multimedia programme 'Ranphule' and even a drama 'Pacha Uttaranchi Kahani. A special drawing competition for children will be held on January 24. The other key attractions during the festival will be the 'Paryavaran Snehi Sahitya Sammelan' (January 18) which will bring together personalities like Vidya Bal, Ninad Bedekar, Mandar Datar, Mahesh Shindikar among others. Also part of the schedule are master classes with filmmakers Naresh Bedi and Ashish Chandola which will be held at Film and Television Institute of India, said Chitrav.Besides, environment walks, painting exhibitions, lectures and competitions will be held through out the event.While entry to the festival is non-chargeable, individuals, institutions and colleges interested in participating in its activities have to register on the festival's website, which has the detailed schedule of the programmes.