New Delhi: ‘A Shawl to die for’ – a Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) film – won an award for Technical Excellence in Cinematography at the prestigious CMS Vatavaran 2009 film awards – India’s premier festival for Indian and international documentaries on environment and wildlife, held last week.

The film comprising first-time footage of shahtoosh production in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, and hidden camera videos of the illegal trade in Tibet was awarded for best cinematography. The award was shared between camerapersons – Rita Banerji of  Dusty Foot Productions and Aniruddha Mookerjee, Senior Director, WTI who shot the film.

Jahnu Baruah, celebrated Assamese filmmaker and chairman of the 7-member CMS Vatavaran 2009 final jury, said, “Confidentiality of the jury precludes me from saying why this movie won the award for Best Cinematography, but in my personal opinion, it was a really great film.”

‘A Shawl to Die for’ was among the 106 nominated for the awards and final screening, from a total of 366 national and international entries that were received this year.

The film traces the ancient craft of Shahtoosh weaving in Kashmir, India and its links to the decline of the Tibetan antelope (Chiru) found in the Tibetan plateau. It also explores the struggle of former shahtoosh workers displaced by the ban in Shahtoosh production, and interventions brought about by the Shahtoosh Workers Rehabilitation Project of WTI and IFAW, supported by the British High Commission.

Rita Banerji, Director of the film recalled, “The filming in the houses of shahtoosh workers was carried out in January; it was freezing there, but we had the most amazing experiences while interacting with them, all of whom were such warm people. We saw their struggle, their pain and their hope as they survived the chronic militancy problem as well as the ban in shahtoosh production. One particularly emotional moment was filming a relatively poor family in which a 70-year-old widow and her daughter-in-law had to fend for the entire family. The women cried during the shoot and it broke our hearts to see them struggle like that.”

“The movie also documented the evolution of the rehabilitation project. We met WTI team members – Ashfaq, Fayaz and Mudasir. Fayaz and Mudasir are from shahtoosh weaving backgrounds; it was amazing to see the determination of these young people to work towards the welfare of their community. We got to see a really fascinating side of Kashmir – one that has been overshadowed by the prevalent sad news,” Banerji added.

The film also documented, using hidden cameras, the smuggling of raw Shahtoosh from Tibet into Srinagar, and of other wildlife articles such as otter skins from India into Tibet.

“In 2000, we explored Tibet as part of WTI investigation on the illegal shahtoosh trade. We met traders along the way who were willing to provide us tonnes of shahtoosh wool, despite us being first-time “buyers”. In places like Gertse, we discovered huge cache of skins lying in people’s backyards! Obviously, we could not film it as the owners would only allow us a sneak peak and would not allow us anywhere near their cache. It was anyway a challenging task to pretend to be tourists and film conversations with traders using hidden cameras. It was quite an experience,” said Aniruddha Mookerjee, Executive Producer of the film who had also led the investigation in 2000.

“All along this trip to Tibet, we came across a lot of interesting incidences. One, particularly notable was that we met a lot of people with artificial limbs. Apparently, many of them were carriers of illegal articles who lost their limbs to frost-bites as they attempted to cross borders on foot during winters when border security is relatively less active. A lot more could have been added to the movie but for the time constraints,” he added.

Between 2000 and 2004 IFAW and WTI collaborated in a global campaign against the Shahtoosh fabric aimed at the fashion industry and consumers to influence and reduce demand. At same time, efforts were carried out with the enforcement authorities in China and India to choke raw material inflow to the world’s only production centre, the Kashmir valley, to reduce supplies. IFAW-WTI also lobbied with the Government of J&K to outlaw shahtoosh production, which eventually came about in 2002.

“All these efforts to stop production and trade of shahtoosh was necessary. However, we also realised that shahtoosh was an issue of livelihood as well as pride for the skilled craftspeople based in Srinagar. Without an alternative livelihood that preserved the skills and tradition of these shahtoosh workers, our efforts would have been vain, and even inhuman,” added Mookerjee.

The Shahtoosh Workers Rehabilitation Project helped establish pure hand-made Pashmina as an alternative to Shahtoosh for the displaced shahtoosh workers. To help minimise the deficit in profits (as shahtoosh weaving was more profitable), the project set up the Kashmir Handmade Pashmina Promotion Trust (KHPPT) comprising the workers themselves to ensure that the profits from the sale in their products were not lost to unscrupulous traders.

The KHPPT products come with a craftmark certificate that guarantees that the products are pure and hand-made. About a year ago, Kashmir Pashmina was granted the Geographical Indication (GI), giving it the much-deserved edge over pashmina products from elsewhere in the world.

“The film is perhaps the first to document shahtoosh production processes in detail and make it available for public view. The filming was done around 2001, and many protagonists of this movie have since passed away. Yet, shahtoosh weaving continues in Srinagar, underground. It will be long before we achieve our goals, but this film’s recognition will definitely help our cause,” said Mookerjee.

Learn more about Shahtoosh Workers Rehabilitation Project

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WTI documentaries shortlisted for India’s premier environment film awards