THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tales of courage and resilience -- from Kerala to Palestine -- lit the silver screens on the third day of the International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2025. Under the category An Ode to Resilience: Tales from Palestine, the film ‘Free Words: A Poet from Gaza’ directed by Abdullah Harun Ilhan was screened to wide acceptance.
Based on the life of poet Mosab Abu Toha, the film reflected how the poet used art as his form of resistance. More films under this category, including ‘Gaza Sound Man’ by Hossam Hamdi Abu Dan and ‘National Pride: From Jericho to Gaza’, will be screened on Monday.
‘Adrayi’, based on the life and struggles of Chaliyar agitation leader K A Rahman, also won the hearts of the audience. Helmed by writer Farsana C K, the film showed the protests against the Grasim factory’s pollution of the Chaliyar river through the eyes of other protestants. The film, which competed in the Malayalam Long Documentary Category, showed real-life testimonies of activists who worked with Rahman. Bedabrata Pain’s ‘Deja Vu’, based on farmers’ struggles, was also screened on Sunday.
Two new segments were launched in this edition of the festival -- ‘A Room of Our Own’, which explores the voices and experiences of women graduates from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and ‘Election Diaries’, based on the general elections and produced by the Centre for Modern Indian Studies.
The film ‘A Minuscule Minority’, which talked about queer representation in electoral politics, also set off discussions among delegates. The documentary ‘Dalit Subbaiah - Voice of the Rebels’ by Gridaran M K P spoke about the singer Dalit Subbaiah, who spread social awareness through his music.
Animation films, under the ‘Best of Annecy Kids’ section, featured curated sets of films from the latest edition of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France. While ‘Cardboard’ by Jean-Philippe Vine follows the journey of a single-parent pig, whose piglets open a magical world, Jiyoon Jeong’s short ‘A Walk into the Afterlife’ follows a cat who goes to the afterlife world to meet his beloved friend for one last time.
Renowned documentary makers Ranjit Ray, Avijit Mukul Kishore, Lipika Singh Darai, and Fazil N C spoke about their style of filmmaking and how to break the style conventions in the ‘Reel to Real’ discussion moderated by Cuckoo Parameswaran.