The 2-day Tigerland India Film Festival 2019 was organised at the EPCO auditorium, Paryavaran Parisar Bhopal on 16^thand 17^thFebruary 2019.  The festival was inaugurated by the Executive Director, EPCO Shri Jitendra Singh Raje. In his opening address, Shri Raje emphasised the role of EPCO in environmental conservation awareness and praised the valued association of EPCO with the Tigerland India Film Festival. The address of the ED was followed by a National Symposium on Wildlife conservation with special reference to Wildlife Corridors and their Environment in which eminent speakers including Ex-PCCF Shri Suhas Kumar, Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, Chief Income tax commissioner, Madhya Pradesh Shri RK Paliwal, Swiss conservationist and wildlife film maker Ms. Brigitte Uttar Kornetzky, environmental activist and convenor, Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan Shri Manoj Mishra and Member secretary, Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Board Shri R. Sreenivas Murthy gave insights on various conservation issues. All the speakers were given a Tigerland memento by the Founder Director of TIFF Abhinandan Shukla.

     A tribal painting exhibition titled Nurturers of Nature was  inaugurated by Shri RK Paliwal in which more than 100 paintings of Gond artists were available for exhibition and sale. Post lunch a very interesting and interactive Wildlife Quiz was conducted by Shri Rajneesh Kumar Singh, DCF wildlife, Madhya Pradesh Forest Department. Innovatively conceptualized, this quiz included questions focussed not only on contemporary wildlife issues but also presence of wildlife in history, literature etc. Various movies produced by different organisations like Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Board, Madhya Pradesh Ecotourism Development Board and Wildlife Wing of the forest department.

     The second day of the TigerLand India Film Festival was dedicated to screenings of international wildlife films, World’s
most famous Tiger, Tiger dynasty, Elephant Kitchen and Where the Elephant Sleeps by award winning film makers Shri Subbiah Nallamuthu and Ms. Brigitte Uttar Kornetzky. The movies were followed by a very interesting and informative interaction session with Ms. Brigitte which helped the audience better understand the issues related to rearing elephants in captivity.

     The Tigerland India Film festival Yearbook was released by PCCF & Head of Forest Force, Shri J K Mohanty, PCCF & Chief Wildlife Warden, Dr. U. Prakasham, ex-PCCF Dr. Suhas Kumar, Member Secretary Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity
Board Shri R. Sreenivas Murthy and CEO Madhya Pradesh Eco-tourism Development Board Shri S S Rajpoot.

     The highlight of the day were the TIFF awards. Tigerland India Film festival honours exemplary contribution to Wildlife with its special awards. This year there were 3 special awards. The Tigerland Eco-warrior award presented to Padmashree awardee Shri Babulal Dahiya for his work on conservation of local paddy varities. The Tigerland award for exemplary courage was given to Ms. Sudha Dhurve, a forest guard of the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department for her courage and presence of mind when confronted by a tiger in the jungle. Lastly, the Tigerland India Biodiversity Conservation award which is given in every festival was awarded to Ms. Brigitte Uttar Kornetzky for her exceptional work on human-elephant conflict. TIFF also awarded the winners of various competitions like film making, photography, painting, poem writing and slogan writing conducted throughout the year. The event concluded with encouraging remarks by the senior officers of the Forest Department and a vote of thanks by the Director of TIFF Shri Abhinandan Shukla. The event was hosted by IIFM students Supriya and Gayatri.