Odisha To Host India’s Largest Environmental Film Festival On Dec 2 & 4

Bhubaneswar Odisha will host India’s one and only environmental film festival, All Living Things Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF), on December 2 and 4.

According to an official release, the film festival will be organised between 2-5 pm on December 2 at Gram Vikas Mahendra Tanaya Ashram School in Koinpur of Rayagada block, Gajapati district, and from 11 am to 6 pm on on December 4 at the Gram Vikas Mohuda campus near Berhampur. Entry will be free.

Gram Vikas is partnering with ALT-EEF to bring in-person screening of documentaries and short films, featuring Indian and international titles focused on environment, conservation and sustainability.

Notably, actress Alia Bhatt’s production house Eternal Sunshine Productions has teamed up with ALT EFF 2023 to use the power of cinema to address environmental topics. The fourth instalment of the festival will take place across 20 cities between December 1 and 10 .

It features a curated selection of compelling films that promises to captivate and inspire audiences, offering a unique perspective on the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges while reaching out to diverse audiences, encouraging dialogue and promoting awareness of environmental challenges that demand collective attention.

Six short films will be screened in Koinpur while two feature films and five short films will form the repertoire in Mohuda.

SOME FILMS TO BE SCREENED

Feature films

Between the rains: As a prolonged drought intensifies the conflict between two pastoral communities, an orphaned shepherd boy searches for a new path forward while his village reckons with an eroding way of life due to a changing climate. 

Patrick and the Whales: For 20 years, Patrick Dykstra dedicated his life to traveling the globe, following, and diving with whales. He has learned to see how whales see and hear, how they perceive other creatures in the water, and how they behave at close quarters. This allows him to consistently get closer than anyone else alive—a truly unique skill. Using stunning underwater footage, Patrick explores the fascinating nature of the sperm whale, attempting to shine a light on its intelligence and complexity. The film follows Patrick’s personal journey and explores the psychology of a man who has sacrificed everything in his single-minded quest to connect with and understand the biggest creatures in the ocean. 

Short films

Wild Hope: Coffee For Water: A biodiverse rainforest on a sacred mountain is in peril. Slash-and-burn agriculture has stripped Mozambique’s Mount Gorongosa of almost half its trees in the last fifty years, threatening the watershed that sustains the wildlife of Gorongosa National Park, and the people living around it. But a passionate team of scientists, development experts, and local farmers is working together to save this precious wilderness by trying something new: encouraging people to plant a cash crop—shade-grown coffee—that actually depends on restoring the forest to thrive. To make the program work, the park is providing free saplings, training, and support, planting the seeds for a more sustainable and prosperous future for humans and wildlife alike. Wild Hope is a series that highlights the conservation changemakers who are sparking new hope for the future of our planet. Trailer

The Mangrove Family: In northern Kerala, Sreejith and his family work tirelessly to continue their father’s legacy, by planting and preserving mangroves along the coast in order to protect communities from further coastal erosion and extreme weather events. In his lifetime, Kallen Pokkudan was a renowned environmentalist, who came from extremely humble beginnings; an illiterate farmer from the lowest caste in India, the dalits, who dedicated his life to mangrove conservation despite coming up against adversity time and time again. Every day, the mangroves that Pokkudan’s sons and their families nurture, become healthier habitats for the incredible wildlife that live among them, increasing fish stocks for the fishing communities, whilst also sequestering vast amounts more carbon than trees.