Keralam has seen a growing interest in short films and documentaries in recent years. This is visible in the rising popularity of festivals like the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK).
In Kochi, a short film festival also caters to the growing demand. Organised by Rajesh Puthanpurayil, the L K Short Film Festival is a new venue for film enthusiasts.
“My idea was to create a larger canvas for short films,” says Rajesh.
“The first edition of the L K Short Film Festival, held in Kochi in 2025, received more than 420 submissions from across the country. Selected films, spanning fiction, documentary, experimental and animation, were screened at the Gokulam Convention Centre,” he says.
The festival also brought filmmakers such as T V Chandran, Kamal, Sibi Malayil and Haobam Paban Kumar into discussions around independent cinema, he adds.
By its second edition in April this year, the festival had expanded its reach.
“We received more than 1,500 short-film submissions, and around 3,000 people attended the event. Filmmakers and personalities including Adoor Gopalakrishnan, T V Chandran, Dr Biju and Rajat Kapoor were part of the event.”
Rajesh wanted to bring together people who understood different aspects of filmmaking and create a space where emerging filmmakers could meet experienced names from the industry.
That interest in creating a space for filmmakers comes from his own passion for creating cinema.
Rajesh was also interested in becoming a filmmaker himself. Though he got admission to the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, he could not join.
Cinema, however, stayed with him.
During the post-Covid years, Rajesh finally got to do what he had always wanted — create cinema. Hence was born ‘Made In’, a short movie about the pandemic time.
The nine-minute film follows a lone retired soldier who had fought in the Indo-China war. He lives isolated in a colonial-era bungalow in Fort Kochi and watches the world from inside his home.
“There are no dialogues in Made In. We see the story unfold through his memories, and a coffin shop that is located across from his house,” Rajesh explains.
It is the kind of filmmaking he believes in — where the audience has to look a little closer — there is no spoon-feeding.
“We shot the movie in a single day. I was not satisfied with the result and kept the film aside. Later, we reworked on it and began sending it to festivals. Since last year, the film has travelled to festivals in India and abroad and has picked up around 37 awards, including the Kerala Critics Choice Award, held recently in Kochi.”
For someone who gave up joining India’s premier film institutes, Rajesh
believes he has finally found a way back to his passion.