Documentary filmmaker and cinematographer Ranjan Palit has been selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award for documentaries in connection with the 13th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) to be held from December 9 to 14.
The award, which comprises a purse of ₹2 lakh and a memento, will be presented to Mr. Palit by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during the opening ceremony of the festival to be held at Ariesplex SL Cinemas in Thiruvananthapuram on December 9.
The festival will screen six of his films as part of a retrospective — Voices from Baliapal , A Magic Mystic Marketplace , In Camera , Eleven Miles (directed by Ruchir Joshi), Jashn-e-Azadi: How We Celebrate Freedom (directed by Sanjay Kak) and Forever Young .
Recently, the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art in Berlin had done a digital restoration of Eleven Miles , and the original restored version is being screened for the first time in India at the IDSFFK.
Accolades
Mr. Palit, a cinematographer, director and producer, has shot over a 100 documentaries, 14 feature films, and numerous commercials for screen and television. He has won four national and several international awards, and been on many international festival juries. He has been conducting master classes on cinematography and documentary filmmaking.
Over the years, he has been part of some iconic works and documentaries such as Bombay: Our City , Manjira Babulal Bhuiyan Ki Qurbani , Kamlabai , A Night of Prophecy,D’Cruz and Me,7 Khoon Maaf , Pataakha (Vishal Baradwaj) and Ghost Stories (Dibakar Banerjee).
Mr. Palit directed his first feature film Lord of the Orphans in 2020 and is currently directing his next feature film. In 2015, he returned his national awards citing “the increasing intolerance on part of the government to listen to the voices of the people.”
Anand Patwardhan was the maiden recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award constituted in 2018 and Madhusree Dutta was presented the award in 2019.
