The film ‘To Let’ directed by Spandan Banerjee and produced by PSBT bagged the award for the best long documentary at the sixth edition of the International Documentary and Short Film festival of Kerala (IDSFFK 2013), which concluded in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
‘To Let’ is about spaces, people, cats, and the stories woven around them- stories that become a film, a song and a memory as physical spaces and addresses keep changing. Spandan Banerjee was given the award by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at the Kairali Theatre, that was presided over by Minister for Cultural Affairs, K C Joseph. The award carried a purse of Rs 1 lakh.
In the short documentary category, the film ‘This or That Particular Person’ directed by Subasri Krishnan won the award, that carried a purse of Rs 50,000. The jury for the documentary section comprised M R Rajan, Kesang Tseten and Giona Nazarro.
Oommen Chandy, in his inaugural address had pointed out that the relevance of documentaries, that depict a true life, is gaining more prominence in the state and that it has come to influence the people a lot.
The short fiction category was judged by Vetrimaran, Prakash Moorthy and Anjum Rajabali, who said that the experience was not only invigorating, but also very challenging for them in the sense that comparing two or more works of art was never easy or natural. Describing the quality of entries, Anjum had just one word- ‘sparkling’.The award for the best music video went to ‘The Drowning Song’ directed by Sandhya Daisy Sundharam and produced by the FTII.
The video was inspired by the life and works of Amrita Sher-Gil, following her journey as an artist in India. A special mention was made to ‘Balikuruppu’, based on the poem by the same name by poet A Ayyappan. The video was directed by Sathyan Odessa, who is currently not well.The award for the best short film, that carries a purse of Rs 50,000 went to the film ‘Local’ directed and produced by Bharat Suresh Pawar.The award for the best animation film, with a cash prize of Rs 25,000, went to the film ‘Black O’ Whyte’ directed by Jithindas and produced by the FTII. In the campus films section, the award for the best film went to ‘Ridiculous’, directed and produced by Abhishek K S. A special mention was made to the film ‘Who Am I’ directed by John Lanjo.
Ganesh Kumar MLA inaugurated the web magazine of the Chalachitra Academy.