EWMI NEWS:
SEPTEMBER 2008
EWMI FILM WINS THE TOP PRIZE AT THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND CONSERVATION FILM FESTIVAL OF CAMBODIA

EWMI-produced film, Prey Lang: One Forest, One Future won the Environmental and Conservation Film Festival of Cambodia Grand Prix du Bassac award in September 2008. The 11-minute short film was created by EWMI and acclaimed documentary filmmakers Benjamin and Jocelyn Pederick as an advocacy tool, and serves as a trailer for an hour-long documentary on the Prey Lang Forest which is still in production.

The film is a part of EWMI’s wider efforts under the USAID-funded Cambodia Program on Rights and Justice (PRAJ) to protect Cambodia’s biodiversity which is under great threat from industrial development, illegal logging, poaching, and lowland to upland migration, especially as communities lose access to their traditional lands and livelihoods.

The importance of the film is that it lets people know why Prey Lang forest is worth protecting. It documents the way local communities are managing the forest and coping with the impact of deforestation. The film does not advocate ceasing all development, but searches for a way to ensure that development is sustainable and does not marginalize local communities. EWMI hopes that the documentary will raise the profile of Prey Lang and bring attention to the plight of the forest and its people.