About

Jharkhand has some of India's richest forests — and communities who've lived alongside them for generations. ARANYAK is a film festival built around that relationship. It brings together filmmakers, scientists, conservationists, forest communities, and students to watch films, talk, and learn from each other.

The idea is simple: films can help people see and care about forests and wildlife in a way numbers and reports often can't. ARANYAK is a platform where cinema, nature, and communities come together to inspire greater understanding and responsibility towards the environment.

ARANYAK is organized by the Forest, Environment & Climate Change Department, Government of Jharkhand — the state body responsible for protecting Jharkhand's forests and wildlife.

Jharkhand's very name comes from its forests, and that bond runs deep: over thirty indigenous communities, including the Santhal, Munda, Oraon and Ho, share the state, many with nature-centred festivals like Sarhul and Karma that honor and protect trees. The Department's work carries this ethos forward — conserving Jharkhand's forests, wildlife and biodiversity through the implementation of relevant laws, guidelines and schemes, to secure the state's environment for present and future generations.

With ARANYAK, that work extends into film — bringing conservation stories to a wider audience through cinema.