Chalachithra Academy manages to prevent public show of rebellion by filmmakers at IDSFFK closing ceremony

Renowned documentary filmmakers from across the country had cajoled and reasoned with the Chalachithra Academy, and filmmakers whose films had been picked for this year's competition section even threatened a boycott of the awards, and still the films that were set aside for scrutiny by the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry were not shown at the 18th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK).

Nonetheless, the 18th IDSFFK ended on Wednesday without a creative rebellion that could have embarrassed the UDF government. Filmmakers who had threatened to boycott the awards if they triumphed - Kamal K M, Ameya Gore and Debalina Majumder - walked up the podium and accepted their prizes.  

"I don't want to collect the trophy by climbing on the people who have been denied a screening here," Ameya Gore had said two days before. On the same day, another filmmaker Kamal K M said: "One thing that worried me when I stepped into this festival was the exclusion of other films. My film has been granted entry, but it feels like a personal loss to know that other films that have been selected to the competition have been denied a screening." Bengali filmmaker Debolina Majumder had said: "If I win, I will boycott the award."

All three of them won and collected their prizes, too. Kamal's film 'Close Up Up Close -The making of political Ubu' won the Best Long Documentary Award and Gore's 'Going Solo' received a special jury prize in the same category. Majumder's 'Friends of Jilipibala' won the best film award in the Short Documentary section.

Sources close to the filmmakers said they were determined to boycott the awards even a few hours before Wednesday's closing ceremony. However, the filmmakers quickly reached a compromise with the government.

It was decided that the winners would not turn their backs on the awards but, in return, the government would, at the closing ceremony, officially register its strong protest against the Union government for withholding the screening of films. Another promise was also held out. The winners will be given a chance to publicly voice their dissent during their acceptance speeches.

The five competition films that were denied screening were: Two long documentaries - 'Parliament Streets' (Spandan Banerjee) and 'Redlight to Limelight' (Bipuljit Basu); two short documentaries - 'Sanitised Republic: Cast(e) & Contracts' (Afiya and Rizwan) and 'The Mali and the Parasite (Sankaraa); and one short fiction - 'In Search of Buddha' (Sharanya Deyy). Another film denied screening was the Assamese documentary 'Shimmering Odyssey' by Prasun Goswami and Raunak Shivhare.

The government kept its word, at least to begin with. First, the makers of the films kept in the 'suspect list' were called to the stage and honoured by Chief Minister V D Satheesan. Then, Chalachithra Academy chairman Raveendran and the Chief Minister himself expressed their deep worry at the Union government's artifice.  

Raveendran said the absence of these films were deeply felt because each of them "represents the courage of the filmmakers to speak out". "The Chalachithra Academy stands with these filmmakers and affirm our commitment to defend not just theirs but the freedom of expression of cinema itself," the Academy chairman said.

The Chief Minister called the denial of screening an encroachment into the "curatorial freedom of our artists". He also seemed to suggest the state government had no choice but to strike a balance. "We should not allow this to happen but as a government, we have to deal with the sanctions imposed by the Government of India," he said. A clear hint that the state government was in no mood to defy the Centre and screen the films at the festival. Instead, like it has already done, it will legally take on the Centre. The CM promised to screen the films once the High Court issues its order.

It was then that the awards were announced and the winners claimed theirs from the Chief Minister.  But the second promise was politely declined. The winners were not given a chance to voice their dissent at the podium. "They were told that the ceremony had to be wound up quickly as the Chief Minister had to rush to another function," a source said. "Now it will look like the winners have betrayed their fellow filmmakers. But the decision to accept the awards was taken with the support of the filmmakers who were denied screening," the source said.

Another filmmaker whose film was screened out of competition said the decision to accept the awards was understandable. "Many of these winners have lost money making these films. Only awards, and the prize money, can sustain them," she said. IDSFFK winners take home Rs 2 lakh each.

Later at the closing ceremony, culture minister P C Vishnunath, too, said that the 'withheld' films would be screened the moment the High Court delivers a favourable verdict. "First, they denied screening for 31 films. We applied all the pressure that we could to get screenings for these films. In two stages, we were able to secure screening for 24 of these films," the minister said.

"Since we knew how they functioned, we moved the High Court the next day we made an appeal to the I&B Ministry. But unfortunately, we could not secure an interim order," he said. The case has now been posted to November 13. "We will fight. And if we win the case, we will screen all these films on that day itself in Thiruvananthapuram," the minister said.