WED ’11 – An International Festival on World Environment Day, New Delhi – June 2011

If you say “seeing is believing”, then the footfalls at WED’11, the festivals of shorts, organised by Filmbooth on World Environment Day, June 5^th would reinforce the belief that we still care. Held at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, the event showcased short films, short documentaries as well as short 10 minute talks by eminent personalities – all related to the themes of environment, sustainability, conservation and climate change.

The event drew in people from across professions and age groups. Mike Pandey’s short documentary Shores of Silence: Whale Sharks in India, winner of 11 international awards including The Wildscreen Panda (The Green Oscars) and which brought about major legislative changes to protect whale sharks worldwide, was the opening film of the festival. Other award winning shorts included The Wild Meat Trail (Panda Award winner at the Wildscreen 2010 in Bristol, UK), The Miracle Water Village (one of the winning films for the UK Environment Film Fellowships, UKEFF 2010), amongst others. The short films collectively voiced our anxieties, anger, concerns and possible solutions for a greener and more sustainable world.

A series of lectures by prominent personalities kept the audience intellectually engaged through the evening. Leading from the front was NGO Swechcha’s Vimlendu Jha who discussed the politics of environment pointing out society’s skewed approach towards local and immediate environmental concerns. An oversight of local environmental issue could have long-lasting and global repercussions.

Jatin Singh, owner of India’s first and only privately owned weather-forecasting company spoke out how the private sector could utilise its efficiencies to make an impact on the environment. His company Skymet, as a unique business idea, packages weather information for clients from agriculture, power, media, shipping and telecom, thereby improving their bottom lines. Rahul Ram, bass-guitarist and vocalist of the band Indian Ocean drew out from his pool of experiences to hold a captivating and energetic session. He spoke about influences of environment and it’s themes on his music and added that barring folk, there is little in popular or mainstream music that reflects our green concerns. Could a song sound green without sounding preachy? It was a question that hung thick in the hall.

Symbolic and hopeful of a better tomorrow, the audience was gifted a sapling each as they left. Filmbooth hopes ideas for many green initiatives were sown that night.