News

Winners of #MountainsMatter video contest

11.12.2017

Nurlan Anarbaev of Kyrgyzstan and Jaya Setiawan Gulo of Indonesia are the 2017 winners of the International Mountain Day #MountainsMatter video contest organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The winners received a trip to Rome, Italy to see their videos shown at the Mountain Partnership Global Meeting that opened on 11 December, International Mountain Day (IMD).

FAO launched the video contest ahead of this year’s IMD, which had as its theme “Mountains under pressure: climate, hunger, migration”. Competition entrants were asked to create a one-minute video, drawing attention to how climate change is affecting food security and migration patterns in mountains. Participants were asked to submit one video in one of two categories: the general category, with a mountain-related message recorded on a smartphone; and the professional category, with entries produced using professional video and editing equipment.

Jaya Setiawan Gulo’s video interview with a girl living in a tent won the general category by attracting more YouTube views — 22 073 — than any other contest entry as of 3 November 2017 when the contest closed. In his video, Gulo talked with the young girl who described how her life was changed after her community was forced to move following an eruption of the volcanic Mount Sinabung in Indonesia.

In the professional category, a jury organized by FAO reviewed 20 submissions by filmmakers from 14 countries before selecting Nurlan Anarbaev’s video. It won thanks to its relevance to the mountain theme as well as its aesthetic and technical excellence. The filmmaker used a drone to record the stunning mountain landscapes of Kyrgyzstan and draw attention to the impact that climate change is having there.

See the winners’ videos here: general category and professional category.

International Mountain Day has been observed every year since it was first declared by the United Nations in 2003. The goal is to create awareness about the importance of mountains to life, to highlight the opportunities and constraints in mountain development, and to build alliances that will bring positive change to mountain peoples and environments around the world.

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Photo: FAO/Tshering Tashi