Tropentag 2025:

Film Festival

Fourth Edition of Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival at TT25
Theme: Pastoralism at the heart of Nature Conservation and Biodiversity

Tuesday 9 Sept. - 19:00-21:00 CEST
and Wednesday 10 Sept. 2025 - 19:00-22:00 CEST
HS 3 (0.001) Hörsaalzentrum Poppelsdorf

The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival (www.pastoralistfilmfestival.com) returns to Tropentag, presenting a new selection of documentary films that explore the lives, knowledge, and environmental stewardship of pastoralist communities worldwide. This edition focuses on pastoralism, nature conservation, and biodiversity, contributing to the global momentum leading up to the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) in 2026. The film festival provides a unique opportunity to bridge science, practice, and policy through the lived experiences and perspectives of pastoralists from across the world.

The films take participants on a journey through pastoral landscapes ranging from the Hungarian pastures and the Greek mountains to the savannahs of Kenya and Chad. They capture personal stories of pastoralist men, women, and youth navigating environmental change, land-use pressures, and social transformation, while continuing to care for their herds and sustain their ecosystems. The films demonstrate how pastoralist practices and traditional ecological knowledge contribute to sustaining biodiversity and supporting the health of rangeland ecosystems.

Building on the success of earlier editions at Tropentag 2019 (Kassel), 2022 (Prague), and 2024 (Vienna), this year’s film festival in Bonn will feature two screening sessions on separate days, offering a curated program of short and feature-length documentaries. Each session will be followed by interactive discussions, creating space for dialogue among researchers, practitioners, and participants on the role of pastoralism in shaping sustainable landscapes.

The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival (www.pastoralistfilmfestival.com) is organised on behalf of the Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism (CELEP) by DITSL (German Institute for Tropical & Subtropical Agriculture), Agrecol Association for AgriCulture & Ecology and Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF) Belgium.

Programme

Tuesday 9 September 2025 - 19:00-21:00 CEST

Herd Walk (Ankit Pogula – India – 2024 – 63 min)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROLQO6zo7fU
After seven decades of passionate herding, Neelkanth Mama’s herd walk is coming to a cruel halt. In a nearby village, Vajir also struggles to continue herding his sheep, facing resistance within his own home. “No girl wants to marry a shepherd,” his youngest son declares.
Set against the picturesque Deccan Plateau in southern India, Herd Walk follows the resilient journeys of two Kurba shepherds. As they navigate through barricaded commons, changing climate and new aspirations, they walk to preserve a timeless universe. “The sheep is our dharma,” says Vajir. The film challenges us with a question: what is life without dharma – without purpose?
The sheep have often been accused of walking blindly, and the shepherd of a mere wanderer. Yet as the story unfolds, we discover that they may in fact be sustaining one of the last living links between the civil and the wild.

Wednesday 10 September 2025 - 19:00-22:00 CEST

Pastoralism is the future (CELEP – global – 2021 – 2 min)

Man-made climate change is creating conditions on our planet that are increasingly characterised by variability and unpredictability. Pastoralists use variability to their advantage. Their production systems guide us to a sustainable future. This video was created in support of the International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists (IYRP) 2026.

An afternoon on the pasture (Zsolt Molnár & Sándor Karácsony – Hungary – 2022 – 22 min)

László Sáfián – born into a Hungarian family that has been herding for generations – explains how he, with his dog, manages close-herded grazing on a patchy semi-natural pasture. He speaks about the relationship between pasture and livestock, how he portions the pasture, and how he learnt and transmits this knowledge. This “slow film” documents traditional ecological knowledge of herders in their setting and at their pace, using herder-scientist dialogue about the fine-tuned decisions the herder made on this afternoon.

Indigenius Loci (Vicky Markolefa – Greece – 2022 – 12 min)

Vasilis Fourkiotis, deep ecologist, shepherd and sociologist, strides across his ancestral lands immersed in the spiritual reflections of a postmodern world. Set in Sklithro (formerly Zelenic), a village in northwestern Greece with a human population of just over 500 and a lot of particularly camera-friendly sheep, the short doc Indigenius Loci explores the interface of man and nature as it documents the changes in traditional pastoralism practices in Northern Greece.

Sharing the Land (Ofelia de Pablo & Javier Zurita – Spain – 2020 – 14 min)

This documentary brings the testimonies of three herders – Fernando, Juan and Sofía – who have learnt to live close to wolves. Like many other farmers and herders in Europe, they have found ways to protect their livestock. They explain how they deal with the challenges and opportunities that come with the presence of large carnivores and how they have learnt to accept or even to appreciate them. They show that coexistence is possible, if those living close to large carnivores receive sufficient support and tools to reduce conflict.

The Dangar Strife – An Age-Old Ecosystem under Duress (Siddharth Kulkarni – India – 2023 – 4 min)

The age-old pastoral traditions of the Dhangar shepherds of India have shaped both culture and ecology on the Deccan plateau. For generations, their seasonal migrations with sheep sustained a delicate balance between people, animals, and the land. Today, that balance is under siege.

Maasai Voices on Climate Change (Nickson ole Kirrokorr et al. – Kenya – 2011 – 10 min)

This documentary, created by young Maasai pastoralists from Kenya’s Maasai Mara, shares their perspectives on climate change and the many other shifts affecting their land and livelihoods. It explores the challenges pastoralists face in a changing climate while also highlighting dialogue fostered through workshops with scientists, policymakers, civil society, and pastoralist communities in Kitengela (Kajiado District) and Talek (Narok District). In both locations, men and women contributed their local knowledge, enriching collective understanding of climate adaptation.

Maps for Peace (Sébastien Mesquida – Chad – 2024 – 25 min)

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, a geographer and activist from Chad’s Mbororo pastoralist community, bridges traditional knowledge and modern science through participatory mapping. Working closely with the local communities, she charts water sources, grazing lands, and sacred sites to create shared maps that reduce conflict and guide adaptation around the rapidly shrinking Lake Chad. As climate change and regional conflicts intensify pressure on land and water, her maps become vital tools for resilience, dialogue, and peace.

After the films there will be a discussion with researchers and practitioners in pastoralism.

The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival (www.pastoralistfilmfestival.com) is organised on behalf of the Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism (CELEP) by DITSL (German Institute for Tropical & Subtropical Agriculture), Agrecol Association for AgriCulture & Ecology and Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF) Belgium. The 1st edition was launched at Tropentag 2019 in Kassel, Germany, and the 2nd at Tropentag 2022 in Prague, Czechia. The 3rd edition was at Tropentag 2024 in Vienna, Austria, prepared together with colleagues in the International Support Group for the IYRP 2026, and included a special thematic focus on camelids, to celebrate the International Year of Camelids in 2024.