The Hindu : New Delhi News : Film on rainwater harvesting gets award

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 12, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Film on rainwater harvesting gets award

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 11. The Capital's campaign for rainwater harvesting may have a long way to go but here is a public service film on the subject that seems to be earning worldwide recognition. Produced by the Centre for Science and Environment, the film on rainwater harvesting has recently received a nomination at Earth Vision -- the 13th Tokyo Global Environmental Film Festival 2004.

The 90-second film, created by Leapfrog, has been directed by actress Nandita Das, scripted by Soumya Sen and shot by cinematographer Ravi K. Chandra. The film was also one of the four finalists in the Campaign Category of the prestigious Green Oscars. It also won the Best Documentary Award on the special theme of "Water for Life'' at the Vatavaran film festival organised annually by the Centre for Media Studies. "It was an honour to have made it to the list of finalists at the Green Oscars. It was an acknowledgement of quality. And this nomination has come as a further valediction of that,'' said Mr. Sen.

Attempting to spread water literacy in the country, the film has been shot in Kolkata. "We needed people from different socio-economic background. In Delhi that sort of mix does not happen but in Kolkata it does. Also, from the economics angle, Kolkata was cheaper. We had all non-actors for the film and in fact, one of the boys on the set was from the streets,'' remarked Mr. Sen.

Currently working on social marketing projects for the Nandi Foundation, Mr. Sen added: "Just because it is a subject for social activism does not mean that no attention should be paid to quality. It has to be engaging and interesting for the average viewer to even begin looking at you. We want to try to improve communication on the social sector''.

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