The latest edition of SiGNS, India’s pioneering digital video and short fiction film festival, began at St. Teresa’s College here on Wednesday.
Sashi Kumar, noted film-maker and Chairman of Asian College of Journalism, inaugurated the fest. K.R. Mohanan, president of Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI), Kerala, presided.
Besides the competition section for documentaries and short films with the winners taking away the prestigious John Abraham National Awards, the fest this year features about 150 films as part of several packages.
Films will be screened at St. Teresa’s and the Children’s Park theatre, across the road.
There will be ‘Cinema of Resistance’ under which will be screened landmark documentaries about issues relating to freedom and democracy in post-Independence India and ‘Cinema of Performance’ with 14 films on various art forms, traditions and performers .
Films by eminent film-makers like Satyajit Ray, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shyam Benegal, Buddhadev Dasgupta and Arun Khopkar are part of the package. Nangiar Koothu exponent Usha Nangyar will inaugurate the package of the ‘Cinema of Performance’ on Thursday. Writer N.S. Madhavan will deliver John Abraham memorial speech on October 24 at 5 p.m.
Seminars, debates with film personalities and talks will be held as part of the festival, being organised in collaboration with Kochi Muziris Biennale. SiGNS-2015 has an all-women jury comprising Deepa Dhanraj, eminent documentary film-maker based in Bangalore; Gitanjali Rao, animation film-maker and artist whose film bagged the honours at the Cannes; and Fowsia Fathima, cinematographer.
The fest will draw to a close on October 25.
