The morning session on day one at the Kurinji Festival for Documentaries and Short Films saw the screening of 12 campus films made by school students. Through their documentary ‘Sahyaseemakkumappuram’, the students of St Stephens HSS, Pathanapuram give a glimpse of their journey to the remote tribal settlements in Kollam district such as Achenkovil, Mambazhathara and Kallar. The documentary follows a group of nine students from the school as they trek through the forests of the Western Ghats to meet these people of the mountains, who still live without basic amenities and are dependent on the forest for survival.
Another film ‘Gayathri Ente Kootukari’ is a short film by the students of Government UPS, Parackal which tells of the nature-loving Gayathri, whose new best friend is a neem sapling.
She insists that plants too have feelings and knows that only those people who really care for them can hear their voices. ‘Cycle’, ‘Hues’, ‘My school’ were some of the other films in this category.
The screening of schoolcampus films was inaugurated by Devukrishna S Nath, a class 5 student of Cotton Hill Girls School in the city. She had received the Best Director award at the State Children’s Educational Film Festival for her docu-film ‘Love Plastic.’
“This cultural fest is meant for lovers of good cinema. It also provides a forum for meeting other like-minded people,” she said.
The films screened were those selected by the Kurinji Cultural Forum, which had invited entries of video films in Malayalam or those made by Malayalis on any subject placed “in an Indian context”, in three categories – short films, documentary and campus films (separate entries for schools and colleges). Cash prizes will be given to the best films in each category and winners will be announced at the end of the fest.
The main festival was inaugurated with the screening of a 15-minute short film ‘Jaya he!’. “This is a silent film, a debut venture of Dr Gowrilekshmi,” said P R Sreekumar, president of the Forum.
Film director K R Mohanan inaugurated the fest. Author Perumbadavam Sreedharan was also present. The fest will conclude on September 30.