This year a lot of South East Asian countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka also participated in the festival. But the centre of attraction was of course Pakshi Jivan — on the lifecycle of the bulbul — which won three awards out of the total four bagged by the institute. Directed by Rajesh Kange, editor, Balchitravani the film got awards for best direction, best video and best camera. The film was shot around Pune and provides inclusive information about the bird and its lifecycle in an infotainment style.

"I shot the film in August and September. I spotted the nest of a bulbul once and decided to take some still shots. While I was taking those still shots, I realised that the bird was returning to its nest every 15 minutes. So I decided to shoot a film," said Kange, who is yet to reach Pune with the award.

Dr Vikas Kashalkar, bagged the award for best sound recording for his audio recording Kavyagaan, which is an audio anthology of poems for primary school children. "We make informative and educative videos for school children. There are mainly two kinds of videos, one is curriculum-based and other comprises enrichment programmes," said Vipinchandra Chougule, programme producer, Balchitravani . The award ceremony that took place on Sunday had another Pune angle--noted filmmaker and actor Amol Palekar was present at the function and addressed the gathering. "Children must be encouraged, motivated and nurtured in the techniques of filmmaking," said Palekar.

"Our programmes at Balchitravani are aimed at bridging the gap between rural and urban children. The government in the schools of rural areas in Maharashtra has provided colour TV sets, which are used to watch these programmes," said Chougule.

Balchitravani was set up in Mumbai in 1984 before it was shifted to Pune in 1986.