LIVING WITH THE PARK, Ranthambore National Park, India
(English/2005/24 minutes)

Producer IndianWildlifeClub.com

Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan is perhaps the most popular tourist destination to watch tigers in the wild. But despite the tourist dollars, the Park’s main attraction, the Bengal Tiger is in danger of getting decimated here, as it has already happened in Sariska. Is it time we looked outside the park for the reasons, at the humanity which is living outside, their lives still connected to the Park- the people who are living with the Park?

This short film from WildBytes.tv, is a look at the popular tiger reserve as an integrated universe comprising its animals and people in the adjoining areas. The forest connects the two and neither one can flourish without the other. So is the policy of segregating the park as a preserve for animals alienating the people who lived in harmony with the park for decades, helping the Park? There are no quick answers. The camera shows people around the Park voicing their pride in and reservations about the Park. Is the Park management listening? For in the interest of preservation it seems foolish to ignore the distilled wisdom of people whose lives are in tune with nature.
The questions the film raises are:
1) Can we integrate life outside the Park with efforts at preservation?
2) Do the people living around the Park have a stake in protecting the Park and its animals?
3) Given a stake in the health of the park, a role in running it, will they develop a sense of pride and protect the animals inside?
4) Can conservationists help people living with the Park, see the linkage of the Park with their own well-being?
5) Will these people who have lived in harmony with the Park for many years, then develop a stake and pride in the Park and its animals?

SARANG-THE PEACOCK-22 min 1999

The film examines the Indian peafowl from hatching to adulthood through a story told by the camera. 'Sarang' in Hindi, is a word which has multiple meanings, one of which is the peacock. Some of the other meanings are, sun, clouds, frogs, snakes etc. All these form an integral part of the natural habitat of the peacock and form the backdrop for the peafowls featured in the film. The peacock was declared India's national bird in 1963 but few, if any, films have been devoted entirely to this magnificent bird.

The peacock is a fine example of much that is Indian in idiom, music and rhythm. The film is a sensitive portrayal of the bird's relationship with nature, its habitat, its interface with the earthy village landscape, the music it lives and dances to, be it the classical raagas or the clouds and the rain. Sarang is also a classical Hindustani raaga that is visualized in the courtship dance of the peacock.

Director: Dr.Susan Sharma
C-2490, SushantLok Phase I,
Gurgaon, Haryana 122002,
India
Telephone: 91 124 5045330/331

For more details click on the title
Purchase this video online
E-mail: susan_sharma@hotmail.com

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THE GOLDEN BIRD     CD-ROM

This CD-ROM is a complete encyclopedia on Indian wildlife covered in separate sections for amphibians, birds, fish, invertebrates, mammals and reptiles. Topics like conservation and management, wildlife trade and traffic have also been examined in depth. The CD has 4000 still images comprising of photographs, artworks and line drawings in addition to 40 minutes of edited motion film. All these have been interactively linked and users can access these as well as navigate the contents of the CD through specially designed navigational screens.

For the expert and more technically inclined user, in depth data in the form of extracts of research papers and lists of references for further reading have also been provided.  

Produced by: Dipti Bhalla and Kunal Verma

For more details click on the title

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TO CORBETT WITH LOVE- 24min/ 2000

Corbett National Park nestles in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is the first national park of the Indian sub continent and was the launching pad for the region's ambitious conservation plan called 'Project Tiger' in 1974.

The film is exclusively shot in Corbett Park and portrays the park from the viewpoint of a tourist. Corbett's magnificent forests with their rich flora and fauna attract some 48,000 tourists annually, many returning year after year for sightings of tigers, elephants, deer, ghariyals etc. and some 500 odd species of birds. The film looks at the conversion of Jim Corbett, the Nainital- born Britisher , from hunter to protector of wildlife.

The park's employees-rangers, forest guards and mahouts face threats from wild animals and poachers. In the film you can meet Subedar Ali, the mahout who survived a tiger attack , spent a year in hospital and then came back to work in Corbett park as a mahout, taking photographers and tourists for jungle trips.

Director: Dr.Susan Sharma
Dr.Susan Sharma
C-2490, SushantLok Phase I,
Gurgaon, Haryana 122002,
India
Telephone: 91 124 5045330/331

For more details click on the title
Purchase this video online
E-mail: susan_sharma@hotmail.com

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This film vividly narrates a story of individual sacrifice. Killed by poachers, Nihal Chand Bishnoi has become a kind of martyr in the Bishnoi community. In him we see the legacy of a community, which has long enjoyed a reputation for fierce environmental protection. Even at the cost of their own lives, the Bishnois adhere to their religious principles which ban the felling of trees and the killing of wild animals. Here, courage and conviction are a part of daily life.

Direction B.V.P Rao
Enquiries :
359, Asian Games Village,
New Delhi 110 049, India.
Ph: 91 11 649886, Fax: 91 11 436 0779 E-mail: raobvp@hotmail.com

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(Malayalam with English subtitles)

1958: The Government of Kerala persuades the Birlas to open a factory in Mavoor, North Kerala. Their vision of a modern industrialized Kerala was founded upon more and more Mavoors.

At a time when environmentalism was unheard of, a man led his people to save their river and their lives from the killer factory.

A river, her people and a factory, which gobbles up all their precious natural resources and pollutes their land and lives form the pricipal characters of this film.

Direction: P.Baburaj and C. Saratchandran
Enquiries:
Jyotsna, Temple Road, Thirumala,
Thiruvananthapuram 695006 Kerala.
Ph: 91 11 363164, 541355
For more details click on the title

 E-mail: sarat@satyam.net.in

52 min. 1999, English subtitles

Uttara Kannada in Karnataka is one of the most densely forested districts in India. Development projects in the district have displaced one out of every ten inhabitants. The film examines the livelihood and survival issues of the forest dependent communities against the backdrop of the destruction of a fragile and versatile ecosystem in the Western Ghats region, and State interventions towards Joint Forest Management, funded by multi-lateral Aid Agencies.

Directors: K.P.Jayasankar and Anjali Monteiro.
Enquiries:
Unit for Media Communication,
Tata Institute of Social sciences,
Deonar, Mumbai 400088
Ph: 91 22 556 3289
Fax: 91 22 556 2912
E-mail: umctiss@vsnl.com

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Chang Thang plateaux situated near the Tibetan border about 11,500 ft above sea level is famous for pashmina or the world renowned Cahmere wool, produced from a particular kind of goat domesticated by the nomadic herdsmen. Or Changpas. Their lives entirely revolve around their herds of goats and they keep moving from highland to highland in search of greener pastures for their cattle. Although pashmina is Ladakh's most important product, almost nothing is known about the nomadic lifestyle of the Changpas or about their system of rearing the animals or about the amazing variety of grasses which provide nourishment to them.

Directors: Iffat Fatima, Yousuf Saeed
Enquiries:
Doordarshan 3,
Vigyan Bhavan Annexe,
New Delhi, 110001.
Ph: 91 11 3022132 Fax: 91 11 3022135.

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The film travels through the history of the 25 year old Chipko Movement in Garhwal Himalaya. The film specially dwells on the role of women in the movement. It looks at the hardship and trauma of hill women, venturing longer distances for firewood and water, as the hill ecology is degraded over the years. The film ends with vital questions on the ecological status of the region and the impact the Chipko movement has had on the life of the Himalayan people.

Directors: Pramod and Neelima Mathur.
Enquiries:
PSCI,
Doordarshan, Mandi House,
Copernicus Marg,
New Delhi
Tel: 91 11 3385128

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PASTORAL POLITICS- 29 min. 1996

This documentary focuses on two issues: first, the logic that underlies Gaddi herder land use practices in Himachal Pradesh, and second, the ecological and cultural stereotypes that underpin Forest Department's attempts to curtail herders' access to forests. While documenting some unknown facets of the Gaddis' lifestyle, it argues the need for more imaginative conservation policies, more supportive herding without compromising environmental quality.

Directors: Sanjay Barnela and Vasant Saberwal.
Enquiries:
Moving images,
DIII/3425,
Vasant Kunj,
New Delhi-110070.
Tel: 91 11 6893384
Fax: 91 11 6893384.

FISH TALES -30 min./ 1997

A film on sustainable development, explores developmental and environmental issues, by focusing on traditional fishery in Kerala. Thirty years of top- down development policies have failed to address the needs of fisher folk and their special relationship with the sea. Today, fishing communities are worse off than before, faced with the alarming crisis of declining fish stocks. 'Fish Tales' is cautionary-it underlines the need to initiate development policies that are sustainable and beneficial to the communities involved.

Directors: Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam
Enquiries:
Foundation for Universal Responsibility,
UGF, Zone 4A, India Habitat Centre,
Lodi Road New Delhi 110003
Tel: 91 11 4648450
Fax: 91 11 4648451
E-mail: furhhd@nda.vsnl.net.in

MAN Vs NATURE: The STRUGGLE ETERNAL-21 min/1997

This video narrates the existential struggle between Man and Nature. In Kerala, over the years the land slides have been responsible for thousands of deaths and an incalculable amount of damage to the property. Man did not accept the fact that the ecological balance has been shattered and the Nature is losing its balance.

Director: Pradeep Nair
Enquiries:
Film Buff Productions, Mani Mandir, Kumaranalloor, Kottayam,
Kerala Tel: 91 481 562856

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Enquiries: ALCOM,
Alternate communication Forum, A-11, Green Park Extension,

New Delhi 110 016

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VOICES FROM BALLAPAL- 45 min. /English

An involving account of the successful struggle of the people of Ballapal (Orissa) and their attempt to save their land and resources against a national missile test range planned by the government. Farmers and fishermen from the village were promised factory jobs, pre-fabricated concrete houses outside the area- but they refused.

Producer: Rajan Palit and Vasudha Joshi
Enquiries:
189, Sarat Bose Road,
Calcutta-700 029

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THE WINGS OF KOKKRE, BELLUR-45 min/English

Painted storks and spot-billed pelicans nest and breed in the village of Kokkre Bellur ('Bird Village') in Karnataka. The villagers care for these migratory birds like they do for their own children. This is a film on the relationship betwen the birds and the villagers whose deep-rooted respect for all life has a lesson for us all.

Enquiries:
K.P. Sasi
sasi36@rediffmail.com

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CALL OF THE FOREST-25 min/English

This film documents the successful struggle of tribal women in Bastar in Central India to save their traditional saal forest from felling under the commercial forestry programme by the government's Forest Department. The film captures the spontaneity and vigour of a determined group of women galvanized into action under the remarkable leadership of a middle-aged tribal woman, Mitkbai.

Enquiries:
CAPART/CENDIT
Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural technology
Gurunanak Foundation Building
New Mehrauli Road
New Delhi 110 067

Centre for Development of Instructional Technology
D-1 Soami Nagar
New Delhi 110 017

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Since 1985, opposition to the Sardar sarovar dam has grown in the form of the Narmada Bachao Andolan-the Save Narmada Movement. This film, which is based on a 'video diary' kept by the filmmakers from 1990 onwards, documents the history of the Narmada Bachao Andolan over four years.

Enquiries:
Anand Patwardhan
27, Vincent Square, 2nd Floor
Dadar, Mumbai400 014

A JOURNEY THROUGH MOYAR-  (English) 25 min.  

A film shot on Madumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu.  The film has caught the scenic beauty of this dense forest along the river Moyar.  This deciduous forest is the dwelling place of the mighty Asian elephant. Panoramic views of the Nilgiri slopes with floating clouds, huge water falls, gushing streams and misty hillocks bring nature alive.  The film extensively covers the bio-diversity of the area.  Enchanting scenes like bathing birds, elephants playing in water, bee sucking nectar, birds feeding young ones and blooming monsoon flowers are captured on film. Like any other protected area of India, Madumalai sanctuary is not without problems.  The film gently suggests that conservation of the natural wealth of the forest cannot be achieved without he active involvement of locals.  

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