REPORT - 9TH ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL OF ACCRA AND 3RD STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT FORUM

SUMMARY
Once again, it is our pleasure to bring you a report on the ninth edition of the annual international Environmental Film Festival of Accra held from 28 June to 5 July, 2013. EFFA received funding for various component of this Festival including – Young Film Makers’ Workshop, the Children's Daytime Screening component of the project; the Open Air Screening at Kwame Nkrumah Circle on Saturday 29 June with the innovative Free Malaria Test for public; and the 3rd State of the Environment Forum.

The mix of funding and other support from our sponsors and donors for various aspects of the festival resulted in another successful edition of EFFA. Over 300 people including Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Ebenezer Ampah-Sampong, representative of the EU, Mr. Herve Delsol, Programme Officer at the Delegation, Officials from the French Embassy in Ghana, the Australian High Commission to Ghana, and other members of the diplomatic community, corporates, journalists and several school children gathered at KAMA Conference Centre, Osu for the festival launch with its focus on Environment and Health.

The week-long festival of film on the environment and State of the Environment Forum are organised annually to raise awareness on the relationship between the environment and sustainable development. The 9th Edition brought to the public, films from around the world including Australia, Denmark, Japan, Germany and Ghana with screenings at the Goethe Institute, British Council, Trashy Bags, and Alliance Française for schools and the general public. Participants, including people watched the films during the Festival period were well over 10,000.

The Festival critically engaged audiences and participants through its different components including Film Festival, Young Film Makers’ Workshop, and the State of the Environment.  The Film Festival presented audiences with a variety of environmental films from the international community as well as films produced from Ghana and the Young Film Makers’ Workshop. The films from Young Film Makers’ Workshop told stories of the environment with hilarious accuracy to explain the relationship between the environment and health. The audience response was keen and reflected the emotive impact of the films produced by the school children. The quality of the films and depth of stories also showed continuous progress from previous festivals. On the other hand, films from the international community brought the audience face-to-face with the dire consequences of environmental degradation and neglect through real life challenges faced by communities of people as varied as the people of the Aral Sea Basin – Kazakhstan; the threats of degradation faced by the Islands of Tuvalu; and the e-waste menace facing the Korle Lagoon communities of Accra, Ghana among others.

A new addition to the festival this year was the Free Malaria Testing for the public during the Open-air screening at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle with support from the National Malaria Control Programme. EFFA intends to make malaria screenings a permanent feature of the festival towards eradication of this environmental disease among others.

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