12th February 2007

WWF, Ecomove and German Culture Centre hold successful film festival

Lahore: WWF and Annemarie-Schimmel-Haus (German Cultural Centre) together with Ecomove International inaugurated a two-day international environmental film festival – “Borderless – Humans and the Environment in a global world” on Monday, 12th February to a packed audience at the Annemarie-Schimmel-Haus.

Addressing the audience comprising mostly of students of various schools and colleges of Lahore, Ali Hassan Habib, Director General WWF – Pakistan, commented that “it is in man’s own interest to live in harmony with nature. We hope that through these films people will be sensitised about environmental issues.”    

Naurin Ahmad-Zaki, Director Annemarie-Schimmel-Haus, pointed out that “in this age of globalisation we are gaining economic benefits, however, unfortunately the environment seems to be losing out”.
 
Visiting expert Michael Greif lead the audience through the films. Greif is a project manager with Ecomove International. Ecomove’s primary purpose is to promote environmental issues in the media. It also conceives and implements educational and media projects on a national and international level.

The series of films being screened presents a range of outstanding German and international documentaries which address specific environmental issues and their global causes. ‘Surplus - Terrorized into being consumers’ a documentary of emotions from Sweden questioned why consumerism does not guarantee happiness and why there is a feeling of emptiness despite personal wealth. ‘Water Business is good business’ travels from Delhi to Indore and from Bombay to Chennai to explore the politics of urban water supplies as India faces an emerging water crisis. Presenting the global water crisis ‘Watery Visions (Thirsty Planet)’ explores new approaches and solutions to this crisis around the world. ‘Wetlands of Pakistan’ takes you through the diverse array of wetlands in Pakistan. 19 of these sites have been internationally recognised by the Ramsar Convention Bureau as being of global importance. ‘Looking for coal’, the last documentary of the day, portrayed the life of people in Dhanbad in the state of Bihar, India’s oldest coalmine region. Safety standards are low, machinery from British Colonial times is still in use and the mining companies neglect to protect the health of their workers.

Through this film festival WWF – Pakistan aims to create awareness about the environment among the public and to enable them to analyse the importance of the environment in the wider picture.