Exclusive: ALT-EFF, India's only environmental film festival aims to start a dialogue about climate change

They say cinema has the ability to influence its audience. In the last few decades, cinema has been used not only to entertain but also to educate. This is why a film festival on the environment is important at a time when the world is grabbling with climate change.

ALT EFF (All Living Things Environmental Film Festival) - India's first and only environment-themed film festival is currently underway across the country with on-ground as well as virtual screenings. The festival began on November 17 and will conclude on November 27.

This year the festival boasts an impressive selection of 55 films from India and around the world spanning across from ada including feature films, short films and animated formats. This year, the festival has an illustrious jury including filmmaker Kiran Rao, the award-winning director of Vidya Balan starrer, Sherni and also Newton, Amit Masurkar, Anish Andheira - The chief president of Wildlife Conservation Trust, along with Pradip Kishen and Lindsay Crowder.

The festival is the brainchild of Kunal Khanna, who conceptualised ALT EFF and is a staunch promoter of environment conservation, nature and sustainability. Ahead of the festival, Khanna spoke to WION about this unique festival, its purpose and relevance in present day. Here are the excerpts from the interview.

What can we expect from this year's edition of ALT EFF?

2022 is the most exciting year for ALT EFF yet. First and foremost, we are evolving from being a purely virtual festival to a hybrid event with both the virtual festival and in-person screenings that are set to take place at venues in Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Bangalore, Delhi, Ooty, Kolkata and Panchgani. Next up the program itself, we have 55 films in the line-up and 33 of these are India Premieres.

The program comprises stories about the environment, conservation, activism, innovation, the human struggle, our critical relationship with the ecosystem, how we preserve it and live in sync with it. We are bringing Inspiring stories that provide unique insight into people and places around the globe, and creating a space for people to interact and talk about climate change and the many facets of the environmental emergency we are faced with.

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This year, we are enabling better environmental storytelling through programs such as masterclasses for film-makers and last year we introduced the Student category with the aim to inspire more young film-makers to take up the environment as a key subject in their films and projects.

Finally, ALT EFF's mission is to be platform that inspires and mobilises communities to take action towards creating a sustainable future; and this year we have going one step further by offering the virtual edition of the festival in a non-ticketed, pay as you feel model, where the full program will be available for viewing not just to audiences in India, but globally. This is very exciting, as we look forward to a very large audience engaging with the films and conversations.

Are there enough films made that highlight climate change, and sustainability?
Absolutely, so much so that this year we have categorised the film program into 10 wide themes, these include Forests and Oceans, Conservation, Activism, Capitalism, Urbanisation, Sustainable Living, Indigenious Wisdom, Animals & Insects, Food Politics and Climate Change. We received close to 200 film submissions this year, which is a significant jump from the previous years, all of which goes to say that these themes are increasingly being covered by film-makers and that's exactly what we at ALT EFF would like to see.

In fact, environmental cinema is quickly coming out of the niche and mainstream cinema is covering such subjects as well. One of our Jury members for 2022, Amit Masurkar, had recently released a film on human animal conflict called 'Shreni'. And one of the most widely viewed films on Netflix, 'Don't Look Up' with Leonardo Di Caprio is essentially a satire on the imminent climate crises we are faced with today.

Which are the films that you are most looking forward to in this festival? Do you have any personal favourites?

If there were 5 top films for me, apart from 'All that Breathes,' they would be. 'The Plastic Bag Store,' 'The roar of the Marañon,' 'Murmurs of the Jungle,' 'Planktonium' and 'How to Kill a Cloud.'

Do you feel there is enough awareness about a festival like ALT EFF in India?
We are getting there, over the last two years we have had an audience of 10,000 come and attend the festival and the various discourses. This year with our decentralised nature and the Pay as you feel model, we are hoping to triple that. And with your support we are sure to get there quick smart!