The Story
OrganizerLong before climate and conservation became mainstream festival themes, a Delhi institution was using film to press them onto the public agenda. CMS Vatavaran, launched in 2002 by the Centre for Media Studies, set out to make the environment and wildlife the sole subject of a competitive international film festival and forum, and over the following two decades it grew into what is widely called Asia's largest green film festival.
Held biennially in New Delhi, often in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and organisations such as GIZ and WWF India, the festival pairs film with dialogue. Across its editions it has screened hundreds of documentaries, short films and features on climate change, water, wildlife, biodiversity and conservation, drawn from dozens of countries and Indian states, and surrounded them with seminars, forums and outreach events that carry the films into schools, colleges and communities. Its competitive structure, a peer review followed by nomination and award juries of environmental and film experts, culminates in awards across categories from wildlife and water conservation to livelihoods and sustainable technology.
Recent editions show both its continuity and its reach: the 12th edition, themed Wetlands for LiFE, ran in October 2024 at the Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, with a companion Green Film Fete across Delhi schools and universities, and the 14th International edition is announced for November 2026. In keeping film and conservation in sustained conversation, and in building juries and audiences that span media, science, policy and civil society, CMS Vatavaran has made itself a fixture of India's environmental culture.
CMS Vatavaran is significant as India's, and one of Asia's, foremost platforms for environmental and wildlife cinema, and as a sustained bridge between filmmaking and conservation. By making the environment the exclusive focus of a competitive festival and forum, it has given environmental filmmakers a dedicated stage, recognition and audience, and has used cinema as a tool for public awareness and policy dialogue over more than two decades. Its partnerships with government and conservation organisations, and its outreach into schools and communities, extend its impact well beyond screenings, embedding environmental storytelling in education and civil society. It is a notable example of culture mobilised for ecological awareness.
As climate and biodiversity move to the centre of public concern, CMS Vatavaran matters as a long-established, credible platform that has been using film to drive environmental dialogue since 2002. It sustains a community of environmental filmmakers, brings conservation stories to wide and young audiences, and connects cinema to policy and science. For the Atlas, it is a distinctive node linking film, media and India's environmental culture.
