Entries have been invited for the seventh edition of Signs, a festival for digital videos, documentaries and short fiction films and also for the prestigious John Abraham Award instituted by the Kerala region of Federation of Film Societies of India.
Signs 2013 is scheduled to be held here from February 10 to 15. The festivals would have prizes in various categories which would be shared equally by the producer and the director. The prizes would include a certificate of merit, memento and a cash prize.
While there is no time limit for documentaries, the short films should be less than 70 minutes. The last date for submitting entries is January 5 and submission can be done online by logging on to the website www.signsfestival.com. The register number received at the time of submission, along with the DVD of the film, preview screener in DVD format, and entry fee of Rs 500 via a demand draft in favour of the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) payable at Trivandrum should be sent to the Federation of Film Societies of India- Kerala, KRA-B-35, TC 28/2724, Near Dhanya Remya Thetare, Kunnumpuram, Thiruvananthapuram- 695001. Submission becomes complete only on receipt of all the above attachments at the FFSI address.
The selected films will be intimated on January 24. The prize for the best documentary and the best short feature film carries a cash prize of Rs 50,000. The best short feature/ documentary on subjects such as state oppression, human rights, environmental issues, gender equality, social and cultural identity would get a cash prize of Rs 25,000. The best experimental film would also get a cash prize of Rs 25,000.
The jury for the Signs 2013 would be headed by eminent Kannada filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli. One of the pioneers of parallel cinema movement in India, his films had received critical acclaim inside and outside the country. He was also a recipient of the National Award four times for his films, ‘Ghatashraddha’ (1977), ‘Tabarana Kathe’ (1986), ‘Thaayi Saheb’ (1997) and ‘Dweepa’ (2001).
Along with the film festival, a two-day workshop would be held on Blender, which is a 3D computer graphics software used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications and video games. The Blender workshop would also have a package of blender films from all over the world.
Curator, film critic and film historian Amrit Gangar would take the delegates through a journey into the world of video experimentations in a lecture titled ‘Cinema of Prayoga’.
There would also be presentations on Early South Indian cinema by film historian and writer Theodore S Bhaskaran and film theorist and academic Venkatesh Chakravarthy.
For more details, log on to www.signsfestival.com or contact over telephone numbers 9447495408 or 8281207927.