Int’l documentary and short film festival begins

Thiruvananthapuram: Documentary films in contemporary India must give thrust to secularism, said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan while inaugurating the 11th International Documentary and

Short Film Festival

of Kerala (

IDSFFK

) at Kairali Theatre on Friday.

Only directors with a secular mindset could portray facts as facts, CM said, adding that directors like Anand Patwardhan were a model for others.

The chief minister also presented the

lifetime achievement award

of IDSFFK to Patwardhan at the function. In his reply speech, Patwardhan said that Kerala was the last remaining island that stands for secularism.

Selected films of Patwardhan are being screened at the festival under the category ‘Anand Patwardhan: Rebel with a Cause’.

The IDSFFK also features a package of films curated by film critic C S Venkiteswaran, under the category titled ‘Cinephilia: An Eye On Cinema’. The category in memory of P K Nair, the founder of the National Film Archive of India, features six films handpicked for cinephiles.

Las Cinephilas by Maria Alvarez, 16mm: Memories, Movement And A Machine by K R Manoj, Henri Lanlois: The Phantom of Cinematheque by Jacques Richard, I Am Micro by Shumona Goel and Shai Heredia, Pervert’s Guide To Cinema by Sophie Fiennes and Rangabhoomi by Kamal Swaroop are the chosen works.

Two hundred documentaries and short films, including 64 in the competition section, will be screened at IDSFFK .