THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sixty-two films were screened at Kairali Sree Nila theatre complex on Sunday, the third day of the 16th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK).
The day’s highlight was the category ‘An Ode to Resilience: Tales from Palestine’ category. Two films that focused on Palestinians’ struggle for justice and survival were shown.
In the competition section, three long documentaries were featured: Anand Patwardhan’s Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, Ranajit Ray’s Putulnama, and Flickering Lights by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan.
Three short documentaries and five short fiction films, including two Malayalam productions, were screened. Dheeraj Akolkar’s Ullmann - A Road Less Travelled, which premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in 2023, was also part of the lineup and drew good attention.
The ‘Homage’ section began with a tribute to director Kumar Shahani, featuring three of his films, followed by two documentaries by the Bedi brothers. Other films included six Indian animations, a short from the African shorts category, and two films from the ‘Voices, Whispers & Silences: Films on Social Justice’ category. The day also saw the screening of Arshaq’s Malayalam long documentary Grow Vasu and Uma Chakravarti’s multilingual documentary Zameer (Voice of Conscience).
At the ‘Face to Face’ event, young filmmakers discussed the challenges of securing budgets for short films and said they rely on personal networks.
Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty’s session, ‘The Sonic Landscape,’ focused on evolving significance of sound in Indian cinema.
“The role of mainstream cinema in my career is so much that the Oscar I won belongs to the mainstream audience,” he said.