Stressing importance of ecological conservation through films is the need of the time

The conflicting reality of ecological conservation has become the talking point of the press meet at the fourth day of the Ninth International Documentary and Short Film Festival. The directors who present during the press meet said that the filmmakers should stress the importance of ecological conservation through their films. The directors of the movie ‘Kalia; the Lost Gibbon’, Nikhil Virde and Nitye Sood said that the motive behind the film was to bring their aim of “create, connect, and conserve” to a large canvas. The movie told the story of Kalia; a Western Hoolock Gibbon in the Northeast India. The Hoolock Gibbon faces the threat of population plunge due to extensive poaching in the area. Through the film, the duo tried once against to bring the importance of conserving the species and preserving its rapidly declining territory.

Jalal-ud-din Baba’s ‘Saving the Saviour’ tells about the story of small boy Billa’s efforts to protect the Wular Lake. The kid who had lost his father at his early age had been scavenging the Lake for plastic trashes and other items that could be sold at the local scrap yard. Baba said that the contribution of these trash pickers in conserving a Lake or our environment is less discussed. “I took Billa as my central theme after I found that what he is doing to the society is far more important to conservation activities and I want to highlight it”, said the director.

Renjith Kuzhoor, who directed the long documentary 18 feet, said that the voices of the dalits are either muffled or less heard in the society. The film tells the story of the indigenous band ‘Karinthalakkoottam’ who had given a revival and made popular the music of the marginalized. He brings the people of his own village to a wider platform with the realization that their voices no longer remain to be unheard.

Directors Sourabh Kanti Dutta and Kareem Meppadi were also present in the press meet.