The Lions of the Gir ( English/52min)

Director: Nikhil Alva/Niret Alva

The Gir forest in western Gujarat supports many endangered species, but it’s best known as the last refuge of the Asiatic lions. There are just 314 of them left in the wild. Miditech’s 52-minute film `Lions of Gir’  documents their place in this rapidly shrinking ecosystem. Humans and lions have been living together in Gir for centuries, sometimes in a rather uneasy truce, both battling for survival and space in this harsh land. 

            The film begins during the monsoon months, when the forest is bursting with vegetation.  The pride of Asiatic lion is headed by two young males.  Sharing the ecosystem with the lions are Maldharies.  The Maldharies are traditional pastoralists.  They own herds of cattle and buffalo, which graze in the forest and compete with wild ungulates like the cheetal or the spotted deer and the neelgai( blue bull) for fodder.  But for the lions they represent easy meat.

            The Gir is dry deciduous forest.  Water becomes scarce.  River dries up.  The forest department fills water in artificial waterholes scattered through the forest for the animals.  It is around these waterholes that the life revolves in summer.  The lions wait near waterholes for easy prey.  So do pythons who lie in the water awaiting small prey.  The arrival of the monsoon transforms the forest.  Birds start nesting.  Most animals have given birth to young.  Food is plentiful.  As of now the pride is at its happiest.  But for this large pride, future is hazy, once the cubs grow up and begin to carve out their own territories. The struggle for survival continues. 

 

A Mirage for a Future? ( English/32min)

Director: Ashok N. Mewada

Situated in Western Gujrat, the Little Rann of Kachch Wild Ass Sanctuary is the  largest protected area in India.  Over 300 species of birds, several rare and beautiful reptiles, amphibians, mammals and plants are protected in this unique habitat.  It is also home to the free ranging Wild Ass (Equus Hemionus).  This sanctuary is under increasing threat from encroaching salt industries, the pressure of livestock and unregulated traffic which raises several questions regarding the ecology of the whole protected area.  Perceiving an adverse official attitude to the sanctuary, a local NGO filed a Public Interest Litigation against the Government of Gujrat leasing sanctuary land to the salt industry.

            The Government and the salt merchants defend the move saying it is interest of the poor landless salt workers ( agarias), but facts reveal that the agarias are caught in a never-ending cycle of debt and poverty, exploited by the salt merchants who advocate their cause. Salt merchants recommend denotifying some part of the sanctuary for the salt industry, while experts point out that perennity and integrity of protected areas are very important.  The problem can be solved only through consensus. 

Enquiries:

Educational Media Research Centre

Ahmedabad

The PAAL System ( Hindi/ 18 min) 

Director: Sanjay Joshi

The film deals with the paal system of irrigation which was prevalent in Arawali range of Alwar district in Rajasthan about 50 years ago.  It was abandoned due to migration of the local Mev community to Pakisan during the partition of India.

            The Paal system of irrigation is based on harnessing the rain water at the foothills through earthen bunds and making use of it for irrigation of crops.  PRADAN ( Professional Assistance for development and Action) successfully worked on the project to revive the age old system and achieved astonishing results by doubling the mustard crop in this area. 

Enquiries:

Jo Productions,

Delhi

Honey Hunters of the Blue Mountains ( English/33 min.)

Director: Mike H. Pandey

One of the last havens of untouched forestland-the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in south India, is home to the deadly rock bee the 'apis dorsata'.  Just before the monsoon, the hunter gatherer Kurumba tribals of the Nilgiris prepare for their yearly harvest of honey, scaling precipitous cliffs to collect the treasure of the wild 'apis dorsata'.  Dramatic sequence of honey gathering off 300-foot cliff leave you spellbound by their agility and fearlessness.  The collector spiders down the sheer cliffs supported by a ladder woven out of forest vine.  As filmmakers the biggest challenge was to capture this sequence effectively, since te Kurumbas would not permit outsiders to suspend themselves on their chosen cliffs.  The only way to get extraordinary angles was to climb atop and reach over the edge of the cliffs or take position directly below the hives.  Rigorous, as each time the crew were right in the midst of the bee storm!

Enquiries:

Riverbank Studios,

Chirag Enclave

New Delhi-110048

Cry of the Forest (English/27 min)

Dir: Krishnendu Bose

This film tries to look into a more holistic meaning of conservation where people also are a part of the forest and animals. The filmmaker's line of argument is that people staying inside and around the forests ( National Park and Sanctuaries) should not pay the cost o conservation.  They may be made a part of this instead and be reintegrated into what was theirs. The film begs a relook into the conservation policies being presently followed.  The film is located in Kanha in Madhya Pradesh.  The crew meets Sardar, a Baiga who has a vast source of knowledge on medicinal plants but today laments the loss of control.  The crew spent a night in the middle of a paddy field to get a first hand look into wild animals depredating crops-laying waste a whole year's hard work.  Sonar Bai,60, recounts how she was thrown out of her village Aurai, inside the Kanha Park in the monsoon of '72…..how she had to sell everythig to settle her family again.  Finally the film looks at a village which is still inside the National Park-Jami and closely watches it sustainably 'use' the forest. 

 

Enquiries:

Public Service Broadcasting Trust

New Delhi

Wild Dog Whisling Hunters ( English/30min)

Directors: Bedi Brothers

Dholes are elusive foxlike animals that live in the dense forests of India.  We now know them as wild dogs.  They do not communicate through howls or barks but by peculiar high pitched whistles.  Their elusiveness led many early naturalists to think that the Dholes were mythical beasts.  Even today only the fortunate get to see them in the wild. 

BediFilms/BediFilmsVisuals
E19-RajouriGarden,
NewDelhi-110027,
India.
Tel: 011 5441864, 011 5439939