POST NEWS NETWORK
BHUBANESWAR: The concluding day of tenth Indian Film Festival of Bhubaneswar was marked by the screening of Anand Patwardhan’s award winning documentary movie ‘Reason’ at Odissi Research Centre here Wednesday. Patwardhan graced the occasion and gave away awards to budding filmmakers whose movies were screened at the film fest. Apart from the feature films screened at the fest, there were other special movies that turned heads at the fest. 10 films submitted from across the country locked horns in the competition category.
The first prize was given to Aasif Moyal of FTII Pune for his movie ‘A star studded Sky’ whose story is based in a small town of India. The town closes down in apprehension of communal violence after the death of a cow in an accident. Amidst this chaos, a poor Muslim labourer tries to earn his livelihood by hiding his identity to avoid the ensuing hostility.
The second prize was given to Ananth P Mohan of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad for his Malayalam movie ‘Nadakketthandan’ which is based on the story of a 10-year-old boy Sanku who is curious enough to dream about his own world of collecting matchboxes, stickers, coins and feathers. However, he is caught by his headmaster for submitting a fake feather of swamp hen for a science exhibition. Famished Road by Nachi of FTII Pune won the special mention award. These movies are selected from as many as 75 student films from across the country, which were submitted for the competition category of the festival. Even though only two movies will receive prizes, a select few are being screened every day for an hour. A threemember jury including National Award winner Subas Das, designer and researcher Pankaja Sethi and
renowned artist Ramahari Jena adjudged the movies and declared the winners.
Talking to Orissa POST, Pankaja Sethi said, “The stories narrated in the movies are fascinating. The movies had come from various parts of the country such as Assam, Kerala and Maharashtra among others. Some of the movies that turned heads were ‘A star studded Sky’, ‘Nadakketthandan’ and ‘Valay’
among others.
Subas Das, said, “The standard of students films especially from Kerala, Assam and Tamil Nadu. Unfortunately, students of the state have not been able to send any notable movie. The reason for that may be the lack of exposure of Odia students. For example, Kerala witnesses quite a few film festivals. The state government is also helping Kerala Chalachitra Academy in this regard.”
Famished Road, a Marathi and Hindi movie directed by Nachi, is based on the short story of Nigerian author Ben Okri. The 22 minute film was made under the project given by FTII Pune where Nachi studied filmmaking and passed in 2018. The story is about a small boy in a village which is in turbulence due to the presence of army. In that village there is a woman who is a suspect witch.
The story is about these two people. Meanwhile, controversial docu film ‘Reason’ was screened for the audience which is perhaps Anand’s most urgent and thorough exploration of Indian society yet. He charts his country’s slide away from secular democracy and toward divisions of power, caste, and religious belief — and the violence that has followed. Anand Patwardhan’s passionate, detailed chronicling of injustices in India has made him the filmmaking conscience of his nation.
In the seven day festival more than 60 movies were screened of many regional languages.