He was a true maverick amongst filmmakers. John Abraham remains an icon for independent cinema, 32 years after he died tragically in Kozhikode at the age of 49 (he fell over from a rooftop).
The city is set to pay homage to John with an “International Short Film Festival” that opens at the Krishna Menon museum, East Hill, on December 12.
The three-day festival will feature 122 films from 40 countries. Joy Mathew, who was the hero of John’s maiden film Amma Ariyan , is the man behind the festival.
“This is probably the best I, or the city of Kozhikode, could do in John’s memory,” says Joy. “John showed us how you could make good, experimental cinema, in the unconventional way. This festival is a platform for the youngsters to make their films independently, like the way John used to.”
It was after chairing the jury at the Ooty Short Film Festival that Joy began to think of organising something like that in Kozhikode.
“I talked to Madhavan Pillai and Abdul Khader, who are part of the organising team of the Ooty festival, and they agreed to help me conduct a John festival,” says Joy. “But, unlike any other festival, we won’t have any jury to pick the winners; the selection will be done completely by the viewers.”
He believes that is the way it should be. “I don’t think it is right that a small number of people should decide what is good and what is not good,” he explains. “The audience at the John festival could vote through an app.”
The response has been great to the festival, Joy says. “There were about 620 entries, from which we had to shortlist 122,” he says. “Films from several countries in Europe and Latin America have entered the competition. There are 45 entries from India.”
The best of all those films will walk away with a prize of ₹1 lakh. There are also awards for the best director and actor.
“This is going to be Kerala’s biggest ever festival of short films,” says Joy. “It never is easy organising something like this, but we received support from several quarters, including the State government, which has given us the Museum and its premises for free ; we are grateful to IAS officer V Venu for that.”
Joy says the festival is not just about films. “It is a cultural festival. There will be painting exhibitions, book releases, music, including a programme of ghazals and a show led by Sayanora. We will also screen Amma Ariyan .”
For more information about the festival, including the schedule of films, log into jaisff.com .
