“Foliage Outdoors” presents EcoFest ’09- A Short Film & Presentation Competition
Foliage Outdoor is a well known name when it comes to treks, wildlife camps and adventure holidays. Managed by a group of wildlife enthusiasts, Foliage Outdoors has been at the forefront in organising exciting ventures in the field of eco-tourism.
This group has now come up with an Eco Fest, a short film competition based on wildlife and nature, as a part of an environment awareness programme. The fest aims at highlighting the harmful effects of environment degradation and to sort out ways to protect the environment, all through short films that are produced and created by amateur film makers from the city.
The main idea behind organising the Eco Fest’09 is to bring the best creative minds of the city together and to spread the message of environmental awareness among the masses in the most exciting manner. The member of the organisation believe that screening these creatively crafted films will have a strong impact upon the audience, which is the first step towards urging them to take concentrated efforts to save the environment. Although discussions & forums on environmental conservation are being organised from time to time, they have proved to be not as effectiveness. Hence, when spreading the message of nature conservation, it is vital that the means of communication is effective and interesting.
Speaking about the Ecofest’09, Shantanu Rajguru said, “We are doing it in a different way. Being an amateur filmmaker and a student of media, I know that the best way to reach the masses is through films. Providing information is not our only motive, we also want to educate the people and films are the best way to achieve that.” According to him there are many passionate amateurs film makers in Pune who are looking for a platform to showcase their talent. Elaborating on the basic idea to bring them all together for a noble cause, Shantanu added, “Now that people are dying for water I think this is one of the best ideas to spread the message to preserve the environment in a short yet effective way”.
This is the second time that Foliage has organised an Eco-fest. Last year it was held in the month of August and it was very well received. Advertising for the fest started in mid July and twenty four participants belonging to diverse fields like dentistry, animation, education and copywriting participated in the event. Talking about its success Shantanu remarked, “The turnout was really good last year and the auditorium was running to packed houses. The audience represented people of various age groups from Pune and also from far flung areas like Pirangut”.
For the Ecofest ’09, the entries will be judged on categories like validation of the facts mentioned in the film, the technical finage as well as the public appeal. The fest will be judged by Mr Umesh Kulkarni and Mr. Rahul Rao who were also the honorary judges of the last event.
Foliage is also planning to prepare an Eco-Fest VCD containing the best entries of the fest which will be distributed free of cost. This will help in the promotion of both, the young filmmakers as well as environmental awareness.
The Eco- Fest will comprise of two different categories:-
Short film category: The short film category will include documentaries as well as short films which can most effectively communicate their message on environmental awareness to the public. The maximum duration of a film will be 20 minutes and it can be shot with any type of camera.
Presentations: Here the participants need to create any type of audio visual presentation which caters to the central theme. The time duration for this is around 10 mins maximum.
More articles by Vandana Prasad
- “The economic process of recession is much bigger to be shaped by a bankrupt and inefficient government!” - September 28th, 2009
- Shake-o-Holic - September 27th, 2009
- Monsoon Destinations: Harishchandragad Fort - September 26th, 2009
- Mega Dandiya @ Pan Card Club (September 36th Week 2009) - September 24th, 2009
- “There is creativity in every person, but it needs to be ignited” - September 21st, 2009
