Amazing wildlife film aired in New Delhi

[Guest guest]

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Dear all,

 

It gives me great pleasure to say that today I was able to

watch the screening of a brilliant film called “Pushed to Kill” on man

animal conflicts in India, especially with reference to leopards. The film

is directed by Jay Mazoomdaar, one of India’s most talented environmental

journalists. Jayda courted fame when he exposed the sorry situation in

Sariska in the Indian Express, an effort that won him accolades from the

prestigious International Press Institute and the story has been making

international headlines ever since. I had read a lot of his work and

interacted with him before, but today is the first time I met him. I have

enormous respect for his approach because quite apart from highlighting the

plight of animals he speaks about the sorrow of people who have lost their

dear ones in this conflict. The man animal conflict issue is now attracting

attention internationally with many notable institutions conducting studies.

I urged him to show his film to a wider audience. He has of course scared

some people with his expose, but that is the hallmark of a good journalist

for as one commentator has observed, “News is what someone somewhere wants

not to be published, all the rest is advertising.” Good luck to you Jayda in

your stalwart efforts, I wish you all success.

 

Best wishes,

 

 

 

 

**‘Pushed to kill’ by Jay Mazoomdaar bags nomination for 5th CMS VATAVARAN,

environment and wildlife film festival*

 

*PUSHED TO KILL *

Jay Mazoomdaar | 2008 | Delhi | 00:22:30 | English

Category: Wildlife Conservation

 

My film ‘Pushed to kill’ focusses on the growing incidents of man-animal

conflict. The film has been widely appreciated and has been recently

nominated for the prestigious CMS VATAVARAN, environment and wildlife film

festival, in the country. ‘Pushed to kill’ competed with several other

entries in the category-Wildlife conservation, to make a place in the

nominated 103 films. The 5th edition of CMS VATAVARAN environment and

wildlife film festival will be organised from October 27-31, 2009, at the

India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

 

 

*Synopsis*

Indians have a tradition of cohabiting with animals but in the recent past,

coexistence has given way to conflict. Is it due to shrinking habitats? Is

scarcity of natural prey driving animals to target us? Or is it something

else? In Pushed To Kill, the director reveals an uncomfortable answer.

Tracing the so-called 'problem animals', the film discovers a dangerous

pattern of our own making that is turning these elusive creatures into

stressed out killers. It exposes, case by case, the unscientific, ad hoc

policy of capture-confine-release that transfers and fuels conflict. All

over the world, it is usual practice to trap so-called problem animals and

release them far away from areas of conflict. But this practice, the film

establishes, can trigger a chain reaction of disasters in a thickly

populated country like India.Shot in the heart of conflict zones across the

country - from the sugarcane fields of Maharashtra to the mangrove islands

of Sunderbans -- Pushed To Kill captures rare wildlife encounters: for

instance, a free ranging male facing off with captured leopards in cages

outside a forest resthouse. It is, perhaps, the first time that such an

encounter has been caught on camera. Apart from undertaking thorough

research that questions the accepted policy of capture-cage-release, the

crew camped in conflict zones to investigate facts. While focusing on the

leopard-human conflict, the film draws perspective from similar crises

facing bears, crocodiles and tigers that are irresponsibly shuffled around

and pushed to the edge, inviting retaliation and conflict.

 

*Biography*

I am a Delhi based independent journalist and filmmaker. I have recieved a

number of national and international awards, including those from the

International Press Institute and the Commonwealth Press Union. Pushed to

Kill is my fourth documentary film. In January 2005, I broke the Sariska

story that set me on a tiger trail across the country. In the following

months, I broke similar stories from Ranthambhore and Panna. I was the first

to report the crisis in tiger conservation from nine tiger reserves

including the Naxalite corridor of Indravati (Chhattisgarh), Palamu

(Jharkhand) and Valmiki (North Bihar).