MUMBAI: Two Indian filmmakers bagged awards at the Bristol-based Wildscreen Festival, better known as the Panda Awards or the Green Oscars.

The two Indian winning entries showcasing the best of wildlife and environment films produced across the globe were Mysore-based duo Krupakar and Senani Hegde‘s The Pack: Episode 5 in the ‘Animal Behaviour‘ category and Rita Banerji and Shilpi Sharma‘s The Wild Meat Trail in the category to promote filmmakers from developing countries. 

The Wild Meat Trail portrays community and individual hunting practices in different parts of North-East India, tracking the complex transition of these utility and ritual-based hunting traditions into an increasingly commercial activity geared to generate cash.

The film also traces the journey of an individual, Tarang, who tries to bring in workable ideas of conservation and sustainability to his village and the Nyishi community of Arunachal Pradesh.

It is said that the film was made to draw attention to the rapidly declining wildlife population in the North-East and the possible ways to bring positive change through community-led conservation.

The other film The Pack: Episode 5 has Hegde unraveling the secret lives of Asiatic wild dogs in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve of southern India. Until a few decades ago, Asiatic wild dogs, known locally as Dhole, were branded as bloody killers and vermin by humans, and were mercilessly slaughtered to near extinction.

Another Indian film that made it to the short list was Bangalore-based filmmaker Sandesh Kadur‘s North-Eastern Diaries: Seeking Wildlife in the Eastern Himalayas.

The Wildscreen awards received 446 entries this year, out of which 67 were shortlisted for the final.