Abraxas Lifestyle Teams Up With Kalakruti
The Goa Environmental Film Festival initiated by Kalakruti, in its third year in association with Kala Academy, Dept. of Science, Technology and Environment – Govt. of Goa, Abraxas Lifestyle and other partners was inaugurated on the 11th of September at the Black Box, in Kala Academy, Panjim at the hands of Hon’ble Dy. Chief Minister of Goa Shri Francis D’Souza and the Chairman of Kala Academy and St. Andre MLA Shri Vishnu Wagh in the presence of various dignitaries, environmentalists and festival attendees.
The Film festival began with the opening of the art exhibition done by young artists under the guidance of eminent artist Harshada Kerkar. The inauguration ceremony followed the art exhibition at the Black box at the Kala Academy, Panjim where the dignitaries were invited on the dais and instead of the traditional lighting of the lamp they watered a plant so as to keep it environmentally friendly. Mr. Vishnu Wagh and Dy. Chief Minister Francis D’souza then addressed the gathering about saving the environment and keeping it for generations to come. Wildlife lover and conservationist Amrut Singh was conferred the Abraxas Environment Award 2015 for his hard work and dedication in saving reptiles and the environment. He was also given a plaque, certificate and a cash prize of Rs 10,000. Dedicating the award to his family and organisation – Animal Rescue Squad, he said that this generation should work towards saving the environment for future generations. “For those who can’t save reptiles like I do, then they should not pollute the environment,” he added.
The first session of the day was an interactive session on ‘Progressive Agriculture’. The foyer was done up by beautifully by the students of Goa Architecture College showcasing
Mother Nature.
The second day saw many more school and college children enrolling themselves for different workshops and competitions. There were two highlights on Day 2, the first being the workshop by Kiran Purandare and the second highlight was a unique competition called WOW – Wealth out of Waste organised in collaboration with Lions Club. There was another workshop by TERI – The Energy and Resource Institute. There were two more off-stage competitions too – the inter-collegiate street play and the making of short films. The street play competition was held at the end of day 2 after a very interesting talk by Dr. Hingole from the National Institute of Oceanography.
Day 3 started off with a nature walk organised for school children in the wee hours of the morning. The nature walk was followed by the closing film screening at the Black Box. Last but not the least was the prize distribution and closing ceremony at the hands of eminent environmental activist Rajendra Kerkar. The winners of the street play competition were GVM Higher Secondary.
The short film competition had participants in three categories: school, college/higher secondary school and an open category. The 1st place in the school category went to the film ‘JATAN’ by Mata secondary school. 2nd place went to ‘CONSUME WITH CARE’ by Dnyan Vikas School and the 3rd place went to ‘ELECTRICITY’ by Peoples High School. In the college/higher secondary school category the 1st place was bagged by the film ‘WAKE UP’ by Narayan Zantye College of Commerce, in 2nd place came ‘KEEP CLEAN GOA GREEN’ by M.E.S College and Rosary College Navelim’s ‘MANGROVE IN THE MIST’ bagged the 3rd prize. In the Open category short film ‘PUDHAR’ made by Abhishek Naik and Mahanand Satarkar won the prize.
There was also an ‘Installation Competition’ for the students of Goa College of Architecture organised by Arch. Rita Mody Joshi. There were 5 entries and two of them were awarded. These awards were in memory of Mr Anuj Joshi – a personality who loved life and appreciated the environment to its fullest during his 42 years with us.
The 3rd Environmental Film festival drew to a close on the 13th of September with many more minds educated about the environment and our responsibility towards its well-being.
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