Thiruvananthapuram: The 11th edition of International Documentary and Short Film Festival (IDSFFK), which begins on July 20, comes loaded with a mighty honour.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has picked the IDSFFK as one of the 28 festivals across the world to pick films for the Oscars. Meaning: The film winning the best long documentary at the festival can directly compete in the non-fiction category of the Oscars.
But some of the most decorated young documentary filmmakers in the state are unimpressed, in fact livid. They have shot off a sarcasm-laden letter to the Chalachithra Academy, which conducts the IDSFFK. “The news awes us and overwhelms us no end," the letter says.
They, then, point to a resounding void. “We suddenly remembered that there was not a single long documentary from Malayalam in the competition section of IDSFFK! If one can’t reach even that far, how farther away is the Oscars? So, this Oscar nomination carrot is not meant for the locals!,” the letter states.
The filmmakers bring the Academy's attention to the 27 other festivals that the American Academy has nominated to recruit for them. “In all these festivals, there is a reservation for films from their own land. In other words, they are all promoting their own cinema. So, applying the same logic, we, the ‘local’ filmmakers, who you judge are backward and undeveloped, don’t we too deserve such a reservation? Even if you don’t take us as high and far as Oscars, don’t we at least deserve a decent opportunity to screen our films in the festival?,” the letter asks and then adds: “once in a while, remember that this festival is run with local tax payers’ money.”
They also wanted to know whether the Chalachithra Academy would fund the Oscar aspirants. “Hope the academy will also do the honours of meeting all the expenses for the victorious documentary and its makers at the Oscars. We say this because we are privy to the horror stories of some of our fellow feature filmmakers who did make it to the Oscars! If that is the case with feature filmmakers, what about poor documentary filmmakers like us?,” the letter asks.
The letter has been jointly written by some of the most prominent contemporary documentary filmmakers: K R Manoj, Babu Kambrath, Shiny Jacob Benjamin, Aneez K Mappila, Aswin Krishnakumar, Shijith VP, and Prathap Joseph.
The signatories also appealed to the Academy to reconsider the decision to exclude films below 15 minutes duration from the IDSFFK. “Don’t they deserve inclusion in this august festival at least as a special category? Just because they didn’t make ‘long’ films or decided to make their point in a short time, should they be punished and banished?,” the letter asks.
Nine Indian films will participate in the ‘Long Documentary’ competition category at the 11th IDSFFK. Debalina Majumder’s Tin Satyi, Shilpi Gulati’s Taala Te Kunjee, Beeswaranjan Pradhan’s The Tribal Scoop, Surabhi Sharma’s Phir Se Samm Pe Aana, Piyush Shah’s The Third Infinity, Hemant Gaba’s An Engineered Dream, R.V.Ramani’s Santhal Family to Mill Re-call, S.D: Saroj Dutta and his Times by Kasturi Basu and Mitali Biswas, and Up, Down, & Sideways, are the entries to be screened at the fete.
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