The two day ecofilm festival, tiNai ecofilm festival (TEFF) 2014 was held at BITS, Pilani – K. K. Birla Goa campus on the 31 January and 1 February, 2014. Twenty-two films whose themes centred around issues on ecological and environmental relevance were screened in the festival. Around two hundred students from Colleges in and around Goa and fifty delegates from India and outside India participated in the festival attending lectures, workshops, discussions and watching films.
Surviving Progress directed by Canadian filmmaker Mathieu Roy and produced by Martin Scorcesese was the inaugural film of TEFF 2014. Four films from the seventy entries, won awards. The films Have you seen the Arana? (Best Ecodocumentary Feature); City’s Edge (Best Short Ecodocumentary); In God’s Land (Ecodocumentary Feature – Runner-up) and Timbaktu (Short Ecodocumentary – Runner Up) were given Rs.20, 000 and Rs.10, 000 as cash awards along with certificates and trophies.
Eminent social and environmental scientist, Padma Bhushan and Padma Sri awardee, Prof. Madhav Gadgil delivered a lecture on the role of teachers and students of Goa in environment monitoring leading to preservation. He was also a part of the panel discussion titled, ‘Can development be Ecocentric?’ along with professors, activists and filmmakers.
Alongside screening films, four workshops, three lectures, one lecture-cum-demonstration and a panel discussion were also organized as part of TEFF 2014. The festival concluded with the screening of four award-winning films of TEFF 2014.
The travelling team of the festival took the films to two institutions:
- Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Chennai
- Carmel College, Mala, Thrissur, Kerala