Earth Reel Report - 2014

Videos of the winners in Earth Reel 2014

Earth Reel : Bay's Air

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EARTH REEL 2014: SWOPNER CHESHTA

Earth Reel 2014

On 20^th August, 2014, Bichitra Pathshala in collaboration with iLEAD Institute and Earth Day Network hosted the second edition of ‘Earth Reel’- a platform which celebrates student’s attempts to make films on the Environment. It was attended by eminent artists, by teachers, by the students of some of the most famous schools in the city who took part in the Earth Reel Film Competition and also the students of the iLEAD Institution.

Earth Reel was initiated in 2013 as a collaborative effort of Earth Day Network, a global organization that grew out of the first Earth Day celebrated on April 22, 1970 and Bichitra Pathshala, an organization dedicated to the pedagogy of learning with moving images and also iLEAD, an institute that aspires to be a world class centre for higher education.

The second Earth Reel competition celebrated on the 20^th of August kicked off with the welcome address given by the Chairman of iLEAD, Mr. Pradip Chopra, who announced the competition open by addressing that moving images is the most apparent and conspicuous way for drawing attention to any socio-economic or environmental issue, sharing some of his personal experiences on how powerful visuals deem to be.

Mrs. Karuna Singh, the Country Director of Earth Day Network was then requested to share her views with the students of the Institution on the theme of ‘Green Cities’ initiated by the Earth Day Network. According to her, “In 30 years, humanity is going to recede and we will have bigger problems facing us”. So, she put forward certain effective ways through which to prevent this catastrophe. She suggested Rooftop Farms, Green Cities, Designer Roads, proper Waste Disposal and the conducting of widespread awareness programmes.

Mr. S.V Raman, the Vice-President of Bichitra Pathshala, then took the podium and apprised the audience of the power of cinema to drive home a message, with his characteristic sense of humour. According to him,” Visuals discard any barrier to communication” and that is what Bichitra Pathshala aims at doing.

The Earth Reel Film Competition, which aims at encouraging and showcasing films made by students of different schools by documenting their thoughts through moving images started with the introduction of the eminent Jury Panel which comprised of:

·        Mrs. Romathy Venkateshwar – Vice President of CEMO and an environmental activist. She is the Member of the Projects Grants Committee, Virginia Gilder sleeve International Fund, New York which has an annual awarding of $120000 as Grant Funds and was a Fellow of the Fulbright Studies Program at the University of Minnesota in 1987.

·        Mr. Saikat Sekhar Roy – A National Award winning Editor for his film ‘Hope dies last in war” and the Assistant Professor of the Editing Department of SRFTI, who has worked for years in international films produced my Al Jazeera Network, YLE, ITVS, NHK and BBC.

·         Mr. Jayanta Basu : Environmental Correspondent attached with The Telegraph, ABP Pvt. Ltd and was one of the few Indians to cover all the major climate change conferences and meetings from 2009 Copenhagen onwards to recent Warsaw Conference in end 2013.

The First Round began with the films that were shortlisted in the ‘Public Service Address’ category having a duration of 30 seconds to a minute. The films screened were as follow:

• BAY’S AIR by La Martiniere for Boys.
• ELECTRICITY by The Oriental Seminary.
• GREEN TEEN by Loreto Day School Sealdah.

The Second Round was the Juniors Category which had films of duration from 5 to 10 minutes, made by students in the age group of 10 to 13 years. The films screened were:

• CITTY STREETS by Loreto Dharamtala.
• OUR CITY STREETS by La Martiniere for Boys.
• SWAPNER CHESTA by Sailendra Sircar Vidyalaya.

The Final Round was the Seniors Category, where students in the age group of 14 to 17 years made films of duration 5 to 10 minutes. The films screened were:

• ·  ABHISHAAP by Sailendra Sircar Vidyalaya.
• ·   CITY LIGHTS by Shri Shikshayatan School.
• ·  CITY OF JOY by Loreto Dharamtala.
• ·   DON’T BE MEAN by B.D Memorial International School.
• ·  SABUJ SATHI by The Oriental Seminary.
• ·  STREETER PANCHALI by Ashok Hall for Girls.
• ·  WASTED by DPS New Town.
• ·  GRIMY LANES by G.D Birla Centre for Education.

The Competition was wrapped up by Subhajit Biswas, a student at iLead, who screened his short animation film called ‘CILI’, which dealt with the adverse effect of global warming, to the packed house.

Meltdown by Ace cartoonist Mr. Sarbajit Singh for Earth Reel

The students and teachers were then joined by Mr. Sarbajit Singh, an ace writer and cartoonist whose passion lies in two domains – Graphic Novels and filmmaking. In 1994, he won the National Award for the Best Comics on Environment and in 1995 for his debut film; ‘Painting in Time’. He is also an accomplished filmmaker and scriptwriter having several eminent works under his belt. He drew a gritty and realistic representation of how global warming is eating up our beloved earth on a white board in a minute, and went on to speak on how difficult survival will get in the coming decades.

Mr. Sarbajit Singh along with Mrs. Venkateshwar then announced the winners and gave away the prizes. 

The winners were:

- Category 1:  Public Service Address.

• ‘GREEN TEENS’ BY Loreto Day School Sealdah.

- Category 2: Juniors Category.

• ‘SWAPNER CHESTA’ by Sailendra Sircar Vidyalaya.

- Category 3: Seniors Category.

• 1^st - ‘STREETER PANCHALI’ by Ashok Hall Secondary School.
• 2^nd – ‘ABHISHAAP’ by Sailendra Sircar Vidyalaya
• 3^rd – ‘WASTED’ by DPS Ruby Park.

The Earth Reel Day Programme came to an end with the expectation, of students returning with aware minds and enthusiastic hearts, looking forward to the next year which may see more glorious projects being made and more awareness being spread through the magic of moving images.

Report by Abhinanda Ray (M.Sc Sem 3, iLEAD)