Screening of Conservation Docu-film ‘Catapults to Camera’
07 January 2024
HEAL was thrilled to co-host the first-ever screening of ‘Catapults to Cameras’ on 07 January 2024 at Saturday Club Kolkata, alongside the film’s director, the brilliant Ashwika Kapur.
Produced by RoundGlass Sustain, the docu-film traces the transformative journey of five children from South Bengal’s hunting communities as they learn to perceive wildlife and nature through a new lens. In doing so, the film draws attention to not only a key stakeholder working with whom could eradicate hunting practices that are a potent threat to wild animal populations but also shows the way for creating wildlife stewards out of children from hunter communities.
Preventing the irrecoverable loss of South Bengal’s biodiversity due to mass recreational hunting is one of HEAL’s central activities. In ‘Catapults to Cameras,’ Ashwika teams up with our Secretary, Suvrajyoti Chatterjee, and attempts to change the way five children /protagonists relate to their backyard wildlife by swapping their slingshots or ‘catapults’ with cameras.
At the screening, this light-hearted tale, helmed by Ashwika’s fabulous storytelling, brought smiles to some and tears to others. But to everyone present, it certainly gave vital food for thought: if enough children are inspired to appreciate and conserve their local wildlife, could illegal wildlife hunting eventually cease to exist in South Bengal someday?
This question and many others posed by excited audience members were answered in a post-screening chat session with Ashwika, Suvrajyoti, and two other key members from our team – Arka Sarkar, President, HEAL, and Meghna Banerjee, Executive Director, and CEO, HEAL.
We extend our sincere thanks to all who attended the screening and showed their love for this one-of-a-kind film. We wish Ashwika and RoundGlass Sustain all the very best for the film’s upcoming global journey.