Flying out to Bonn, Germany today to attend the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum. This year’s forum is focusing on the role of the media towards the issues of Climate Change. We will be giving a presentation on the last day. Here is the latest 1 minute trailer of our work.
A short story, I wrote about my recent snow leopard horse trek in Russian Altai’s remote Argut Valley was published today on the UNU’s Our World 2.0 site. Enjoy and please share with friends!!
“The Altai mountain pony below me stumbles on a wobbly rock. I breathe in sharply as loose shale slides off the cliff’s edge and bounces towards the frozen Argut River below. Aduchy, my indigenous Altaian guide, twists around in his saddle and re-counts his travel companions. He motions for me to lean forward. Over the Siberian wind’s howl, my interpreter Irena loudly translates in her thick Russian accent: “Sit forward to help the climbing horse.” … read more here
 
Three of our Media Studio’s Our World 2.0 short documentaries “Land has Breath”, “The Forbidden Forest of the Dayak”, and “Fighting Carbon with Fire” have been selected to screen in 5 cities across Australia, as a part of the Human Rights and Arts Film Festival 2010. They are part of an 18 month UNU project from 2008-09 (there are some previous posts about the filmmaking process of these docos on this site). These community collaborations, carrying important Indigenous climate change perspectives, will be screening in the festival’s “Reel Change – Climate Change shorts” program. Other films in the line-up include the resounding short film “The Water Diary” directed by Jane Campion (The Piano), which premiered at Cannes Film festival 2006. If you are in Moscow, this shorts program has recently been invited to screen there later this summer. We are busily adding the russian subtitles, and I’ll let you know when Russian dates are confirmed. For Australian bound bodies, check HRAFF festival website for full program with specific venue dates/times. MELBOURNE 23 APRIL – 9 MAY. |
Originally posted on http://mediastudio.unu.edu/en/2010/04/26/3-traditional-knowledge-climate-films-selected-for-australian-human-rights-festival/
Writing from a hotel room in Stockholm… the film festival was a success, lots of people, lots of discussions, and much opportunity to further tour the stories within international festivals, human rights events, community centres, museums, universities etc…more later but in the short term just wanted to share with you the blog and photo posted on the UNU’s website.
Generally as you may already know, we are all felling sad with how things have stagnated at the climate negotiations currently.. I hope this week, the real leaders in the room will stand up and be a wise global council for the people of the world!… and…. decide to reevaluate the pile of “not negotiable” market agendas that were decided weeks before this event.
If only plants and animals could lobby!
Below is a mobile phone photo i took when Tuvalu’s negotiator Ian Fry (Australian) voiced his concern for the negotiations direction. He was immediately backed by PNG and also China asked for further considerations. You can just make out the COP15 Chairperson Honorable Connie Hedegaard talking (off-microphone) with UNFCCC colleagues. If you have time, please watch the link to Ian Fry’s later speech on youtube below. I have also pasted the UNU Carterets video if you are interested at seeing the current situation first hand.
Here are some recent snaps from my filming mission in the Gobi desert, Mongolia. As mentioned, have been shooting a small UNU story about the disastrous desertification of the Gobi. The story will focus on the efforts of a small Gobi/Japanese research project.
Technical word of advice: if you are taking camera equipment into the desert…. make sure you take aerosol of canned air, a self-pumping air brush in your pocket and an air-proof camera bag (eg pelican case). Even with all this, absolutely everything was caked in dust… every evening!
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