Students, teachers, parents and children pay rapt attention as they watch volcanoes erupt, spitting out lava. Others in the audience included macro photographers and members of nature clubs in the city.
They see the ferocity of water destroying mountains. Some scribble notes while others get into a discussion. The message through this BBC documentary is how volcanic belts have been responsible for creating different continents. It also stresses on how carbon dioxide emitted by the volcanoes has heated the surface temperature of the Earth and kept the ground level intact.
Another movie is about a multinational soft drink giant setting up a plant at Plachimada village in Palakkad in 2000 and how it impacted the lives of the villagers. There was severe depletion in the ground water levels of the drought-ridden village, and contamination of both the water and soil, which destroyed the farmers’ livelihood. Public agitations led to shutting down of the plant in December 2002.
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Five such films on different themes, meant to create environmental awareness and develop a sense of film making, were screened by the Konangal Film Society and members of the Eco Club of the PSG College of Arts and Science.
The festival attracted viewers from different age groups, with a common love for nature. For some of the college students from neighbouring districts, the films were an eye opener.
“I have not seen films of this quality before. While we have heard of the ill effects of soft drinks, we did not know to what extent the setting up of a plant had affected people’s lives in a neighbouring village. We plan to carry these messages forward in the form of street plays,” said B. Naveena, a first year B.Com student from Vellalar College for Women in Erode.
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For the organisers, the films were meant to attract a select crowd and it served the purpose.
“We organised this film festival to attract genuine nature lovers. We plan to screen more locally made films in the near future, so they will have a direct connect with the audience,” said S. Anand of Konangal Film Society.
Members of the Eco Club of the PSG College of Arts and Science will have to submit blogs on the movies they have watched. The best entries will be selected to go on a nature trek .
“The blogs will show how interested the students are in the environment. These movies also make them ponder deeper over how documentaries are made,” said C.R. Jayaprakash, co-ordinator of the Eco Club.