The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and Centre for Media Studies (CMS) recently announced the winners for VATAVARAN – 2019 Short Film Competition and Festival on Environment. The awards for this first-ever event were presented in a ceremony on November 30, in New Delhi. Additional Secretary, MoEF&CC, Shri Ravi Agarwal along with other senior officials of the Ministry awarded the winners.
The Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar had announced the festival on June 6, 2019, during the celebrations of World Environment Day.
Winners announced for VATAVARAN – 2019 Short Film Competition and Festival on Environment / Image: Press Information Bureau
The four-day festival was inaugurated on November 27 by Shri Suresh Prabhu Member of Parliament and Chair of the 2019 Awards Jury of CMS VATAVARAN; Shri Ravi Agarwal; Ms. Tamara Mona, Deputy Head, Embassy of Switzerland in India and Dr. N. Bhaskar Rao, Chairman, CMS.
In the school students’ category, “Clean and Green” by a Mumbai student won the first prize. It was directed by Toon Club & Ecole Mondiale World School. The second prize was bagged by “Pleaseeee” and the third position was captured by “Let Us Breathe.”
“One Life” by Nishant Kumar Nishu from Patna was the winner in the Amateur and College student category. “Sketch book” and “Aaina” were received the second and third prize respectively.
In the professionals’ category, “Now, Your Home?” a 2-minute film by Prasad Pandurang Mahekar left behind “A silent voice” and “A whiff of clean air” which achieved the second and third spot respectively.
Out of 345 received entries, 90 films were nominated for screening before the Jury comprising Shri Ramesh Sippy, Shri Rahul Rawail, Ms. Manju Borah and Ms. Agnimitra Paul, for selection of the final awardees for this competition.