By TwoCircles.net, Staff Reporter
Srinagar: Kashmir-based documentary filmmaker-Jalal Ud Din Baba documentary on Wullar lake has won a special “Palmdale Vision Award 2017” at 5th Annual “Water Take One” film festival held at Ventura, California, USA on March 22.
The documentary titled, “Saving the Saviour” won the ‘Palmdale Vision Award’, sponsored by the Palmdale Water District, for best representing its mission and objectives. The documentary received a cash award of $500 and the presentation was made by Palmdale Water District’s Laura Gallegos.
The documentary tells the story of Billa, a 15-year-old local boy who had lost his father at the age of 9, and had been scavenging the Lake for plastic, trash and other items that could be sold at the local scrap yard.
‘Saving the Saviour’, won the special award out of 52 film competing in the film festival across the globe. More than 1,000 water-themed short films were submitted but only 52 short films were selected across the world after tough and rigorous entry completion.
“It is a great honour for Kashmir that the first-ever environment theme based film on Wular Lake (Ramsar Site) has made such a successful entry at international level that too on American soil, where quality of environment filmmaking is exemplary and the technique, narrative, treatment of their films is followed by filmmakers across the world,” Baba told TwoCircles.net over phone from Srinagar
The documentary has already won three national awards: Best Film and best Director Awards at 6th NSFF 2016, Vigyan Prasar, second IISFF 2016 by Department of Science & Technology Earth Sciences, Young Green Filmmaker Award, Beijing 2016 and the 10th International Children’s Film Festival, Dhaka 2016.