BARPETA, March 7 - Giving a ray of hope to the rejuvenation of the World Heritage Site of Manas National Park-cum-Tiger Project, a film made on the elephants of the park won the best film award at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on March 3, the World Wildlife Day.
According to a press release received by this correspondent, the film Manas�Return of the Giants, won the award for best film on Asian elephants at the International Elephants� Film Festival, held at the UN Headquarters on World Wildlife Day. The film has been directed by Praveen Singh and Martin Dohm and produced by Kosmic Global Media Private Limited.
The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ( CEITS) teamed up in organising an International Elephant Film Festival, to raise global awareness of the various challenges facing the African and Asian Elephants as a highlight of UN World Wildlife Day on March 3. The festival received more than 250 entries into the film competition, which were reviewed by over 75 preliminary judges over six weeks before the shortlist was passed on to the final judging panel.
The release quotes the observation of the secretary general of CITES �The films connect us in a very personal way to wildlife. They inspire us all to make sure these magnificent animals survive in the wild. Congratulations to all of the finalists and category winners and thank you for making this such a memorable World Wildlife Day.�
It may be stated that the high-level celebrations at the UN Headquarters, attracted international diplomats and policy makers as well as conservation NGO and business partners, film makers and included UNEP Goodwill Ambassador model Gisele Bundchen and actress producer Kristin Davis.
The names of the winners were announced at a high-level event marking the global celebration of World Wildlife Day at the UN headquarters in New York. The winning films and those that made it to the final round, will be extensively shown throughout the world.
The Manas National Park fraternity is elated over the news of receiving of the honour by a film based on the park�s wild inhabitants. Talking to this correspondent, the director of the park, HK Sarma said that he is overjoyed on hearing the news. He added that it will definitely spread a positive message to the world community, which in turn will help in the all round improvement of this World Heritage Site.
