Editor

Bristol’s reputation as the world capital of wildlife film-making has led to an invitation for Wildscreen, the conservation charity based in the city, to mount a skills-sharing festival in India that will be opened in Delhi by UK Environment Secretary, David Millibrand and renowned primatologist Dr Jane Goodall.

A programme of film screenings and workshops will visit four Indian cities from 19-25 January. The Festival is being organised and funded by the British High Commission India as part of a UK Government initiative to encourage and support sustainable development and conservation in the sub-continent and globally.

Speaking in India, Wildscreen CEO Harriet Nimmo said: “Wildlife and environmental a powerful means of communicating the importance of sustainable living and conservation to the millions of people who live in India, at a time when the Indian economy is booming and creating new demand for goods, services, homes, shopping malls and workplaces. There are already many fine wildlife film-makers in India, several of them past award-winners at our Wildscreen festivals. But Bristol is known internationally as Green Hollywood for good reason – more nature films are produced here than in any other city. So the idea behind Wildscreen India is to share some of Bristol’s ideas, experiences and skills to help the Indian nature film industry to grow and prosper so that more people, in India and abroad, can learn to understand and respect India’s environmental challenges and riches.”

The Wildscreen India tour opens with screenings, talks and workshops in New Delhi after which the Bristol party separates to host similar festivals in Chennai, Kolkata and Pune. In all, several thousand delegates are expected to take part in the programme, many of them film students, with thousands more attending the film screenings.

UK Environment Minister David Miliband says: “It is a great honour to be part of the Wildscreen Festival. It is through an event like this one that we can reach out and raise awareness of climate change, and I am delighted to be here representing the UK Government. Our two countries have a long-standing commitment to tackling environmental issues and our joint partnerships have been successful in addressing climate change, sustainable development, protection of the environment amongst many other key issues. I look forward to seeing the films that so many talented film-makers are showing here and I hope their good work will continue in the months and years ahead."

Wildscreen India marks the start of a lively 25th anniversary programme for the Wildscreen charity. Later this year it will also be launching a new wildlife photography event and an internet-accessible library explaining the history of wildlife film-making. In addition, many new features will be added to ARKive, the internationally-acclaimed database of facts, images and sounds about globally endangered species. The project - nick-named the Noah’s Ark of the 21st - century, currently attracts over 20,000 visits a day from more than 100 countries.