The films screened to celebrate World Wetlands Day in Athens on Saturday 11 February were received warmly by the audience. Organised as part of the 19th Film Festival ‘Cinéma et Realité’ the event was hosted in the Auditorium of the French Institute of Athens, a cultural center with a rich agenda situated in the city center.
Attended by an audience of approximately 70 persons the event provided an opportunity to the public to view films screened at the Ecofilms Festival 2005, Rodos, Greece.
Films shown captured a variety of issues linked to water that influence the lives of people around the world in a significant way. Winner of the Ramsar MedWet Award 2005, ‘Veil of Berta’ from Chile as well as an Indian film portrayed civil society efforts to halt the building of a dam. The films conveyed reflections of local communities on the impacts dams would have on the bond between nature, man and culture.
A Spanish film presented accounts of children and adults highlighting the variety of water issues affecting life, ranging from threat of flood in Holland to severe lack of clean drinking water in the outskirts of large developing country cities. An uplifting account of traditional knowledge used to solve problems of water shortage in India featured in a film focusing on rain water harvesting.
MedWet Coordinator, Spyros Kouvelis offered a closing address at the end of the film screening.
A request for copies of films, as well as for a repeat of the screening and positive comments on the films including by a child member of the audience expressed to the MedWet communication officer at the end of the event were a welcome result of the event!
World Wetlands Day stickers as well as information material on the work of the Ramsar
Convention, MedWet were available at the venue. The film program of the Festival ‘Cinéma et Realité’ carried a section on the special screening on World Wetlands Day.
The event was organised jointly by the MedWet Coordination Unit, French Institute of Athens and the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs of Greece.
The films were screened with kind permission of their authors: P Baburaj C Saratchandran ‘Only an Axe Away’, Tom Hamilton ‘Ali Kabuk was here’, Martin Witz, Adrian Zschokke ‘Indian rain harvesting’, Albert Solé ‘Dream of Water’, Esteban Larrain “Veil of Berta’.
Copies of the films were kindly provided by Ecofilms, Rodos International Film Festival.
Reports from World Wetlands Day celebrations around the world can be accessed on the website of the Ramsar Convention
Updated on 2/21/2006 4:04:53 PM.
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