The recently announced National Film Awards have not been without controversy. Some documentary filmmakers in the city have alleged that well-known Tamil director Vasanth Sai, despite being a jury member for the ‘feature film’ section, had also competed in the ‘non-feature film’ section with his work Sanath , which won the award in the category ‘Best Film On Social Issues’.
Questioning the process of selection of the jury, filmmaker Leena Manimekalai said, “This is clear conflict of interest. If someone’s film is competing for an award, how can the same person be on the jury?”
Stating that a National award is a major recognition for a documentary filmmaker, she said, “These independent films are made with so much hard work. So far, we all thought that the non-fiction category is fairly open and transparent. But if it can be influenced like this, the entire process needs to be questioned.”
Asked about the allegation of conflict of interest, Mr. Vasanth said he had duly declared to the Directorate of Film Festivals, when he was invited to sit on the jury, that one of his films was competing for the award.
Separate jury
“When I was approached, I asked the officials the same question. I said my film is there and how could I be a jury member? But, I was told that I was going to be on the jury for the feature film section and my film was competing in the non-feature film section. It was they who said that there was no conflict of interest. It had a separate jury and a chairperson. The process is completely different.”
He said he would rather have his film compete than just be a jury member.
While jury chairperson, director Priyadarshan, said jury members of the feature film section were in no way involved in the selection of non-feature films, Senthil Rajan, director, Directorate of Film Festivals, said, “The two sections have completely different and independent sets of juries. They weren’t related. So, there was no problem or conflict of interest in this.”
However, S.P. Jhananathan, who was a jury member for the 59th National Awards, said there were problems with jury members’ films competing in the same year. “If there is a chance that a jury member could influence another jury member, it should be nipped in the bud. Why should we allow a jury member to lobby from the inside,” he asked.
