LONDON, Dec 1: Two films on Northeast India – one about rhino conservation in Assam and the other on water scarcity in one of the world’s wettest places Cherrapunji – have won prizes at tve Global Sustainability Film Awards 2022 here.
The tve GSFA, now in its 11th year, recognises outstanding films from the business, non-profit, media and creative sectors that inspire audiences with real-world solutions for a more sustainable future.
While the film from Assam, “Bad Blood”, by VICE Media won in the Greener Living Short Film Award category, the special tve Trustee Choice Award was given to “Water for Life” by Green Hub.
On the film “Bad Blood”, the jury said: “The theme of a poacher turned gamekeeper is an evergreen theme. But this riveting film by Vice News, narrating the personal guilt of a reformed rhino killer, was special: not least because such films come from Africa, but this was from the Indian border in Assam.” The other winning films are: Transforming Society category: “Road to Fulfilment” (UAE); Documentary Impact: “Eating Our Way to Extinction” (UK); Young Filmmaker: “Changing Paradigms” (Henry Smith, Australia); Digital Technology and AI for Sustainable Living: “Age of Change: Circulor” (UK).
The award ceremony was held here at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall Tuesday night.
According to Nick Nuttall, chair of the jury, “The films we judged and awarded were undoubtedly inspiring but also told fascinating stories that reflect both the threats, and importantly the solutions, to climate change and the loss of animal and plant life up to how to build sustainable livelihoods.” The films not only demonstrated creativity and quality but the fact that the answers to these multiple emergencies are emerging everywhere if only we choose to deploy them at scale, said Nick, who is also a director and presenter of digital broadcaster “We Don’t Have Time”.
Speaking on the occasion, Mei Sim Lai, chair tve, said, “We received 72 very high quality films from around the world for the tve GSFA 2022 and it was not an easy task for the Jury to first arrive at the 17 shortlisted films and eventually the 5 final category winners.” A highlight of the evening was the presentation of the tve GSFA 2022 Founder’s Award, a special nominated award given to a film that best tackles sustainability issues in a new and innovative way on the big screen.
This year the Founder’s Award went to two films. For the full-length feature film, it went to Phyllis Nagy’s “Call Jane” for its effective portrayal of a pivotal chapter in American history. The film brings alive the troubled story of an American woman in the USA in the 1960s with a life threatening pregnancy which officially cannot be terminated, and how she reaches out an underground network of women who take risks to provide abortions.
For documentary film, the Founder’s Award was given to director Alex Pritz’s “The Territory” which vividly brings alive the struggles of a young indigenous leader and his mentor who fight back in defence of their land and an uncontacted group living deep within the Amazon rainforest.
During the tve GSFA ceremony, the founder of the awards and president of tve Surina Narula said, “I am delighted that we have two winning films from India this year. The quality of the films participating in these awards is a matter of great satisfaction as this indicates the success we have had in getting more organisations and individuals to actively engage in the conversation on global sustainability over the last eleven years.” tve is a UK-registered charity founded by the United Nations Environment Programme, WWF-UK, and Central Television (now part of ITV) in 1984. Its mission is to use the power of storytelling to drive real world change for a more sustainable future. (AGencies)
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