AfriDocs to screen best environmental films

During this week some of the world's best environmental films will be screened across sub-Saharan Africa on DStv channel ED (channel 190) and GOtv (channel 65).

These documentary films from across the globe bring the global discussions between countries back down to the human level - sharing stories of how climate change is already affecting some of the world's most vulnerable people.

From India and Kenya to the Pacific Islands and the USA, these films share stories of communities trying to overcome the very real challenges presented by environmental processes that have already started to affect their ways of life.

A series of short films produced for the Action4Climate challenge will also be screened during the week. The Action4Climate competition challenged film-makers to raise awareness of climate change, share experiences and inspire action by creating a video documentary.

Serious consequences

The response was overwhelming with more than 230 videos from 70 countries that were submitted, bringing to life the serious consequences of climate change across the world and highlighting the actions taken by local communities to tackle it.

The three Action4Climate competition winning short films to be screened are:

• The Tail of a Trail: The winner of the competition, this film from Portugal is a letter from the future is written to our recent past, telling us how the world it turned out right. It follows the trail of someone that left words written, words of change, of simple change. In this near future, the images of our world are the same, but the value of words can be very different.
  
• Global Warning: This second place film from Bulgaria and the Philippines is a documentary about the super typhoon Yolanda-Haiyan which hit the Philippines on 8 November 2013.
  
• Snows of the Nile: Third place film from USA and Uganda. Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains rise 5km from the heart of Africa. At their summits are some of earth's only equatorial glaciers. But these 'Mountains of the Moon', whose existence caused a sensation in Europe when they were first climbed in 1906, are changing fast.

For the full programme schedule and synopses of the films, go to www.afridocs.net or www.facebook.com/AfriDocs.