Film festivals not only give a chance to watch good films and documentaries, but also encourage viewers to discuss and critique them, said writer A. Ramasamy.
Inaugurating the 16th edition of Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival here on Saturday, he said such discussions facilitated introspection and recognition of deserving films.
The film festival opened on the Gandhi Memorial Museum premises with the screening of ‘The Red Data Book-an Appendix,’ directed by Sreemith and Deepu. The film deals infant mortality in Attapady.
“The inaugural film of a festival usually sets the tone. Through the next four days, we have a selection of films from across five categories — Retrospective; Homage; Films Division; Indian Films; Internet Entries; and International Films,” said filmmaker R. P. Amudhan, founder of Marupakkam, which is organising the festival.
The retrospective section will have films by P. Baburaj and the homage section feature the productions of late Shubhradeep Charavorty.
The ‘Marupakkam’ team received 200 entries from across the world out of which a few have been selected for screening at the festival.
Mr. Amudhan said the response to the film festival had been good over the years. “We have decided to limit the festival to a single venue this year and expect an audience of students, film enthusiasts, activists and public,” he said.
Stressing the need for creation of a space for exchanging thoughts and encouraging discussions, R. Murali, Principal of Madura College and member of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), said more film festivals should be conducted.
“With the advent of technology, films are freely available online and can simply be viewed on sharing portals. There is a lack of defined conversation about films which we hope to have here,” he said.
