Pune: The ‘Neer Dhvani Festival’, an innovative awareness campaign and endeavour, has been announced by Maritime Research Centre (MRC) and Talera Institute of Fine Arts (TIFA), in collaboration with National Film Archive of India (NFAI).
The festival aims to encourage and engage people to become aware of management and conservation of water as a natural resource. The announcement of the Neer Dhvani Festival was made at NFAI in the presence of Dr (Cdr) Arnab Das, Director, MRC, Praful Talera, Advisor, MRC, Vivek Damle of Prabhat Studio and Trishla Talera, Director, Evolving Culture Foundation.
Also, members of the advisory and organising committees of the Neer Dhvani Festival were present. ‘Jal Hain Toh Kal Hain’, a street play by the Swatantra Theatre Group, was performed outdoors. The festival will be held on November 24 and 25 this year at the NFAI.
Talera said, “The Neer Dhvani Festival is an inclusive effort to create such a mix through the medium of films and art. It will bring together creative ideas in terms of packaging information, bringing a visual appeal, drawing public attention and energising the young mind.”
Giving more details, Cdr Das said, “The festival will also focus on acoustics, the only signal that propagates efficiently underwater. The soundscape in the underwater domain has many stories to be told. The dynamic interplay of actors and assets in the ecosystem can be decoded, and effective Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) can be generated based on detailed acoustic analysis.”
The detailed schedule of the festival will be announced soon, said Prakash Magdum, Director of NFAI.
“The festival will encourage and engage people to become aware of management and conservation of water as a natural resource. This multidisciplinary initiative will orient the public to marine ecosystems and freshwater systems through film screenings and interactive sessions. The festival will spark debate and awareness in the community to collectively think about ways to optimise and conserve the resource and strategise policies for sustainability,” he said.
“The festival aims to address multiple broader issues of policy, technology, economics, diplomacy and many more. The format of the session will be to play the film for 30 minutes and then have an expert interacting with the audience,” said Praful Talera.
