With an aim to promote fiction and documentary films beyond the festival space , Kerala Chalachitra State Academy and Indian Documentary Foundation( IDF) jointly organised a new initiative-Trigger Pitch as part of the 16 International Film Festival Kerala here in the city on Tuesday.
The intention of the TriggerPitch is to identify creative funding strategies for the documentaries so that it would attract wider audience and bring about a social impact among the viewers. It was with this aim that the first TriggerPitch was held in the city where six documentary film makers from around the world presented a short preview of their films and talked about the possible ways of creating awareness for these films.
In the Pitch, ten major organisations capable of channelling theses films to wider audiences participated. This included organisations like Mahindra Rise, CGH Earth, NDTV, Outlook Business, The Economic Times, Being Human Salman Khan Foundation, Indian Foundation of Arts, Terumo Penpol, PVR Cinemas, Big Cinemas and Panos South Asia.
Main outreach strategies suggested at the programme included popularising edited versions of the films at various theatres and cultural meetings; promoting films through websites of major mass media and outreach programmes to schools and colleges.
The major films pitched at the programme included Please don’t Beat Me, Sir! , You don’t belong; A Pestering Journey, Money and Honey, Beijing Besieged by Waste and The Rat Race. The films were based on subjects of social relevance which included waste management, sufferings of migratory workers and harmful effects of pesticides.
“Through TriggerPitch, documentary films also share a space along with main feature films in the International Film Festivals. This is a positive start to promote documentary films which are equally capable of making powerful impact on people about various social issues in the society”, said Priyadarshan, Chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy.
A Pestering Journey by K.R.Manoj, the sole entry from Kerala dealt with the sufferings of a society due to the harmful effect of pesticides. The film is a journey through the aftermath of the endosulfan tragedy in Kasargod District of Kerala and about the ‘Cancer train’ in Punjab named after the passengers who mostly consisted of cancer patients travelling to the Cancer institute in the state for treatment. The film had won the National Film Award for Best Investigative Documentary (2010).
Speaking to the Hindu, Mr.Manoj said that the film was screened outside the venue of Conference of Parties to the Stockholm Convention in Geneva in April 2011 and has been submitted as official evidence before the Supreme Court of India in a writ petition pending for hearing for Endosulfan Ban. The film is also being screened at major scientific research centers and colleges.
