Signature Film: Gireesh A V
Treasurer: Sreelal R
Deputy Director (Festival): H Shaji
Deputy Director (Programmes): N P Sajeesh
Programme Manager (Festival): Rijoy K J
Programme Manager (Finance): Sajith C C
Programme Manager (Programmes): Vimal Kumar V P
Print Unit Coordinator: P S Sivakumar
Technical Coordinator: Gopeekrishna S
Programme Assistant: Bharath Jayakumar
Festival Assistants: Saiyed Farooq, Sreevidya Nair
Programme Assistant (Programmes): Nitin R Viswan
Research Assistant: Amrutha Sudarsan
Archives Assistant: Muhammed Sajeer A V
Accountant: Sarath M
Festival Cell: Mary Ninan, Unnikrishnan, K Harikumar, Sandhya B,
John Kurian, Nishanth S T, Anu B S, Kannan R S, Jaya L,
G Sasikala, Abdulla A, Arun B L, Manu M, Shamlal S, K Venukuttan
Nair, Vijayamohan B, Arun R, A Maheshkumar, Lizy M,
Omana J, Jayakumari D, Sahadevan R, Rahul Vijayan, Joydas
Website: Deepthi N H, Sabitha G, Pranav V V, Girish Kumar V S, Chithra Reshmi S
Software: Kavitha T K, Mony P G
Project Coordination: Biju S B, Jayaraj N, Ashish P S, Sumesh J S
Signature Film: Gireesh A V
Brand Identity Design: Midhun P P, Aswanth A
Programmer, Associated Programmes: Arjun Ayillath
Filmmakers’ Liaison & Guest Relations: Bandhu Prasad-Aleyamma,
Jayesh L R, Shelly J Bella, Mohammed Rameez S, Jithin Mohan A S,
Mohit R and Vishnu V I (Trivi Art Concerns)
Delegate Cell: Prabhath Surendran, Umesh Ambujendran,
Praveen B S, Chindu S K
Social Media: Ribin N A (Social Media Coordinator),
Anupama Mohan (Content Lead), Shakeel Aller (Designer),
Subuhi Shamrooq V (Team Member - Design and Page
Management), Vishak Marcil (Photographer)
FESTIVAL BOOK
Chief Editor: C Ajoy
Executive Editor: Rahul S
Associate Editors: Nowfal N, Sruthi A Sreekumar
Editorial Team: Kaikasi VS, Dhanya Maria Babu, Anugraha Shaji,
Sooraj S, Thapasya Ashok, Sreaya Sreekumar, Thapasya Thankaraj,
Abhirami SR, Sidharth M Joy, Jayakumar
Book Design: Midhun P P, Aswanth A
Word Processing & Page Setting: Sivaprasad B
Jacques Comets edited, among others, the films of Bernard Stora, Laurent Heynemann, Raoul Peck, Christine Pascal, Joel Farges, Petr Vaclav, Djamshed Usmonov, Ramadan Suleiman, Pablo Aguero, TsaiMing-liang, Samuel et Frédéric Guillaume, Tonie Marshall, Massoud Bakshi, Dima El-Horr, Pavel Giroud, Annemarie Jacir, Germinal Roaux, Beatriz Seigner, Rohena Gera. He accompanied the editing of various feature films of Narjiss Nejjar, Maria Gamboa, Ruben Mendoza, Lamia Joreige, Michel Kamoun, Nguyen Hoang Diep, Jacob Berger, Ferit Karahan, and Miransha Naik, Rima Das, and Prateek Vats. Until July 2018 he co-headed the editing department of the French national film school, La Femis. He was part of many seminars, workshops and juries across the globe.
Mania Akbari is an acclaimed artist and filmmaker. Her radical films were the subject of retrospectives at the BFI, London, the DFI, Denmark, Oldenburg International Film Festival, Germany, Cyprus Film Festival and Nottingham Contemporary UK. Her films have received awards including German Independence Honorary Award, Oldenberg, Best Film, Digital Section, Venice Film Festival, Nantes Special Public Award Best Film and Best Director and Best film at IFFK, Best Film and Best Actress, Barcelona Film Festival. A Moon For My Father won the NEW:VISION Award at CPH:DOX. Akbari was exiled from Iran and lives in London. Her new documentary How Dare You Have Such a Rubbish Wish is a first-person ghost-ride into the suppressed world of women in Iranian pre-revolutionary popular cinema.
Roya Sadat is Afghanistans first female award-winning producer, director and writer. She founded ROYA Film House, the first Afghan woman owned film company and the first International Womens Film Festival and RFH Academy, where aspiring film makers and artists are trained. Her films have won more the 50 international awards. Her filmography includes Three Dots, Playing the Taar and A Letter to the President, which was the official Afghan entry to 90th Academy Awards. She has successfully brought touching stories about Afghan women to international film festivals after the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan for the last two decades. Roya and her family flew to the US after the recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
Shozo Ichiyama worked as the producer for films such as NOWHERE MAN by Naoto Takenaka and films by Hou Hsiao-sien (GOOD MEN, GOOD WOMEN, GOODBYE SOUTH, GOODBYE and FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI). Later he joined Office Kitano and produced films including Jia Zhang-ke (PLATFORM, UNKNOWN PLEASURES, THE WORLD, 24 CITY, A TOUCH OF SIN, MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART), and Samira Makhmalbaf (BLACKBOARDS). He has been the Festival Director of TOKYO FILMEX, which he founded. His later works include MR. LONG by SABU, ASH IS PUREST WHITE by Jia Zhang-ke, THEY SAY NOTHING STAY THE SAME by Joe Odagiri and THE CALMING by Song Fang. He is currently the Programming Director of Tokyo International Film Festival.
Girish Kasaravalli is a well-known Indian director who makes films in Kannada language and has won National award four times. Kasaravalli’s debut feature Ghattashraddha on caste divisions and fate of widows won him his first National Award. His second film Tabarana Kathe won him his second Golden Lotus. He later made critically acclaimed films like Mane, Ek Ghar and Kraurya. Then came, Thaayi Saaheb, considered a landmark in his career. Dweepa a film on displacement of people in the name of development brought him his fourth National Award. Girish Kasaravalli tried his hand at making a television serial, Grihabhanga. Movies like Hasina, Naayi Neralu, Gulabi Talkies and Kanasemba Kudureyaneri were widely appreciated.
Vishvanath Buddhika Keerthisena, known as Boodee Keerthisena, is an award-winning Sri Lankan director. As a young filmmaker, he has co-directed several documentaries, working with European directors and artists. Since his debut Veils of Maya (Sihina Deshayen), which won numerous awards, his unique cinematic productions; Buongiorno Italia (Mille Soya) in 2004, Matha in 2009 and Alone in a Valley (Nimnayaka Hudakalawa) in 2015 have widened the horizons of Sri Lankan cinema. He has been directing a string of diverse and experimental cinematic productions, and he has been contributing to numerous TV series and documentaries. Boodee is also a column writer as well as the writer of a number of screenplays.
Dr Bobby Sarma Baruah is a National and International award-winning Indian filmmaker, film researcher, producer and a screenwriter. Her debut feature, Adomya, was adjudged the best film in the spiritual category at the 13th Dhaka International Film Festival. Her second venture, Sonar Baran Pakhi won the audience choice award at the 15th Dhaka International Film Festival and the Grand Jury Award at the 15th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. Her third feature film is Mishing which own her the Silver Lotus Award in 66th National Film Award. She recently completed her shooting in her fourth feature film named Sikaisal, which is in NFDC WIP Lab 2020 and won Special Mention Award, is now in post-production stage.
Dr Rashmi Doraiswamy is Professor at the Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She was the recipient of the National Award for the Best Film Critic in 1994. She was awarded the MAJLIS research fellowship in 1999 for a project titled ‘Changing Narrative Strategies of Hindi Cinema’. She has served on several film festival and critics juries in India and abroad. She was on the guest faculty for many years at the Mass Communications and Research Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia. She has participated in national and international seminars on cultural issues. Her writings on literature and cinema appeared in Indian and foreign publications. She has authored books and edited and co-edited books.
Ashok Rane is a film society activist, film critic, historian, and filmmaker and Festival Director of Fimingo International Short Film Festival and Aurangabad International Film Festival. He is the Founder Director of Indian Film Academy (IFA). He conducts film appreciation, film script writing and filmmaking workshops and has been a faculty in various institutes. Ashok has received national awards for best book on film and for best critic. His documentaries received accolades in different film festivals which includes the award winning ‘Anthony Gonsalves: The Music Legend’. He has served as a member of Fipresci jury for International Film Festival of India, National Film Awards and at the International Film Festivals of Moscow, Rotterdam, Montreal, Busan and Toronto.
Jihane Bougrine is a cultural journalist and a film critic for VH Magazine as well as a host on the weekly segment Jazz Station for Radio 2M. As a film critic and journalist, she has been a correspondent at the Cannes Festival, La Mostra di Venezia, The Berlinale, Geneva’s Filmar en America Latina, the International Short film festival in Clermont-Ferrand, the Annecy International Animated Film Festival among others. She has been a member of several festival juries. She has interviewed many personalities in the fields of film, music, art, and literature. Her interviewees include Robert De Niro, Guillermo Del Toro, Joaquim Phoenix, James Gray, Antonio Banderas, Marion Cotillard and Juliette Binoche.
Viera Langerova is a film critic, lecturer and scriptwriter. She worked as an editor in Slovak and Czech periodicals. She is the author of the books Film Geography: Continental China, Hongkong, Taiwan and the travelogue Urdu, Purdah, Burka. Five years in Pakistan. She read the film lectures in Baltic Film and Media School, Tallinn University in Estonia, Asian Film, Cinema of Middle East and Northern Africa and Latin American Cinema on Film Academy of Performing Arts – FAMU, Prague, Czech Republic and Theatre Anthropology on Academy of Arts – VŠMU in Bratislava (Slovakia). She also works as programmer for IFF Art Film Fest in Slovak city Košice. Viera is a member of Slovak Club of Film Journalists.
Film theorist, curator, writer, historian and a cultural activist, Amrit Gangar was the Curator for the National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) set up in Mumbai by the Government of India. Gangar has to his credit over a dozen books on cinema. Gangar was the curator of the retrospective programme of the Mumbai International Film Festival and of film programmes for the Kala Ghoda Artfest, Mumbai. He has presented his theoretical concept of Cinema of Prayoga in different venues. Gangar has been on the national and international juries of film festivals. He has also to his credit a few short and conceptual films. His recent Gujarati book on Satyajit Ray is under publication.
A film journalist, film-critic, writer and translator Rekha Deshpande has seven books on cinema and more than 40 translated books on various subjects to her credit. Her Marathi book Nayika – a social, cultural, artistic analysis of women protagonists in the Indian cinema received the Maharashtra State Award and Marathi Chitrapatsrushticha Itihas (The History of Marathi Cinema) and Taramaticha Prawas :Bharateeya chitrapatatil stree chitranachi Shambhar Varshe (100 years of the portrayal of women in Indian Cinema) are her much acclaimed books. Her latest book is Dastan-e-Dilipkumar, an analytical biography of Dilipkumar. She has served in the jury in several international film festivals including Karlovy Vary.
Sunny Joseph is an acclaimed cinematographer from India who has worked as DOP in more than 60 feature films in 12 Indian languages and in an equal number of short films and documentaries. He has directed many short films and TV serials. Recipient of many State and national awards for cinematography and direction, Sunny is the HoD, Direction Department of LV Prasad Film & TV Academy, Trivandrum. Sunny has served as a jury member in many national and international film festivals. His debut feature film as a director, SALT OF THE EARTH, is under post production. He is the Treasurer of Indian Society of Cinematographers. His filmography as DoP include Piravi, Vasthuhara, Nizhalkuthu, Sanabi, Train to Pakistan, Kahini, Mangamma, Oru Cheru Punchiri
Veit Helmer, a writer-director-producer, made his first film at the age of 14. He co-wrote the feature A Trick of Light, directed by Wim Wenders, which premiered in Venice in 1997. His debut feature, Tuvalu (1999), had been invited to 62 festivals. His second feature film was Gate to Heaven. His third feature, Absurdistan was premiered at Sundance and received awards at many festivals. His feature Baikonur was premiered in Busan. In 2014, his family film Fiddlesticks was premiered at 105 festivals and won 21 awards. His new film, The Bra, won Best Film at Cinequest and was awarded Best Film in Italy. Besides fiction films, Veit Helmer directed three documentaries. Behind the Couch won several awards and was aired on BBC with 20 broadcasters from all over the world. He participated in several media-supported training programmes. He holds lectures at film schools in Prague, Beirut, Tbilisi, Dakarta and Almaty.
Athina Rachel Tsangari studied Literature, Philosophy and Drama at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Art in Performance at NYU, and Film at the University of Texas, Austin. Her thesis feature, The Slow Business of Going (2001), resides in MoMA’s permanent film collection. She co-founded the Cinematexas International Short Film Festival (1997-2007). Her sophomore feature Attenberg premiered in competition at the 2010 Venice Film Festival (Coppa Volpi Award for Ariane Labed) and went on to win several awards at festivals worldwide. She is the co-founder of Haos Film, based in Athens and including in its credits three films directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Her third feature, Chevalier was premiered at the Locarno Film Festival. She is currently preparing her first stage directing of Wedekind’s Lulu, commissioned by the Salzburg Summer Festival.
Alvaro Brechner is a Spanish-Uruguayan GOYA award-winning director. Alvaro Brechner began his career directing documentaries and short films for cinema and TV. Later, he wrote and directed three feature films, A Twelve-Year Night (La Noche de 12 Años), Mr Kaplan, and Bad Day to go Fishing (Mal Día Para Pescar) which were screened at many major festivals like Cannes, Venice, San Sebastian and London BFI. All three of his features have received more than 100 international awards, and been chosen as Uruguay’s official entry for Oscar. He has directed several documentaries too. He received the National Literature Award in Uruguay. He was jury at the Cannes, Venice, Warsaw, Sofia, Turin, Gijón, Málaga, Valencia and Fribourg film festivals. An exceptional and versatile storyteller, Alvaro Brechner approaches his characters with great empathy and his mastery of genres and styles from comedy to melodrama enables him to reach any audience
Argentinian actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart was awarded the Rolex bursary at the age of 21, which took him to New York to join Kate Valk’s company, The Wooster Group. In 2008, a part in Pablo Fendrick's La Sangre Brota brought him to the limelight. He did the central role in Deep in the Woods by Benoît Jacquot, which premiered at the Locarno Festival. He acted in Rebecca Zlotowski’s Grand Central, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard competition. Nahuel Pérez Biscayart was then cast in David Lambert’s All Yours in Belgium, a role that won him an award at the Karlovy Vary Festival. 2017 saw him return to the silver screen in France, starring in Albert Dupontel’s See You Up There and Robin Campillo’s 120 Beats Per Minute (2017 Cannes Grand Prize). The role won him Best Male Newcomer at the 2018 César Awards.
Chaitanya Tamhane is an Indian filmmaker, known for the 2014 Marathi courtroom drama Court. It was announced as India's official entry for Oscar. Tamhane was nominated for best screenwriter at the 9th Asian Film Awards and won the best director award at the 16th Mumbai Film Festival. Court was Tamhane's feature film directorial debut. His previous work includes the short film Six Strands, of which he was also the writer and director, as well as the producer. Tamhane's second directorial feature, The Disciple (2020), premiered at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. At Venice, the film won the FIPRESCI award and the Best Screenplay award
Katharina Dockhorn studied history and cultural science at the Humboldt University of Berlin. She has been a freelance journalist for TV stations, newspapers, and trade magazines for over 30 years. She is a board member of the Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Medienjournalisten and a jury member of FIPRESCI. She is a presenter at the Film Kunst Festival and the founder of FIPRESCI award-winning films.
Kalash Nanda Kumar is a staff writer at ‘The Vibes’, Malaysia’s leading news platform. He graduated in filmmaking and has written extensively on Malaysian and international cinema. As a film critic, he has participated in festivals around the world, such as the Udine Far East Film Festival, the Golden Apricot International Film Festival, the Singapore International Film Festival, and the SeaShorts Film Festival. In his capacity as a journalist, he has covered a wide range of areas including legal institutions, indigenous rights, climate change, and the housing market. His work extends to advocacy; he was formerly the Research and Projects Director with Imagined Malaysia, a non-profit focused on public policy and historical literacy.
Narendra Bandabe has been in the profession of film criticism for about 15 years. He has been a member of the Board of Studies for the University of Mumbai and other prestigious institutions. He teaches film criticism, film theory, and film appreciation. Furthermore, he was the head of the jury for the Flamingo International Film Festival and the jury for the Prabodhan International Short Film Festival. He has written a Marathi book, Kubrick, about renowned filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. He is based in Mumbai. Presently, he is working as Director, Media, at Amity University, Mumbai.
Indu Shrikent was part of the Cinemaya, The Asian Film Quarterly. She is one of the founder members of NETPAC India, and helped organise Film Appreciation Courses, Screenplay Workshops, film weeks from Asian countries, and retrospectives of filmmakers. Indu was the co-director of Cinefan since its inception in 1999 with Aruna Vasudev. She was the Festival Director of the 10th and 12th editions of Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema. She has served as a juror at several international film festivals like Istanbul, Ismailia, Berlin, Amiens, Busan, Locarno (President of the short film competition), FAJR, Rotterdam, Vesoul, Cinemanila, Brisbane, Jeonju, and Cinemalaya. She was a member of the FIPRESCI jury in Hong Kong. She has been a trustee of the Tuli Research Centre for India Studies since November 2022.
Nina Kochelyaeva is the Head of the Department for the Development and Approbation of Film Education Methods at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). She is a Laureate of the Russian Federation Governmental Award in the field of education, a NETPAC member, director of the NGO for the development of projects and research in culture and the arts, The New Institute for Cultural Research, professor at the National Research University's Higher School of Economics, and teacher on film history at Nikita Mikhalkov's Academy for Cinematography and Theatre Arts. She is a member of the selection committee of the Moscow International Film Festival, programme director of the Kazan International Festival for Muslim Cinema and programmer of the Dhaka International Film Festival. Apart from being a prolific writer, she has produced many documentaries.
Jayasree Bhattacharyya is an eminent theatre artist and filmmaker. Her film Madur (2003) won the best film award at the Dhaka International Film Festival. She won the Best film and Best director awards for her film Binisutar mala at Indian International Film Festival Kolkata. She served on the Jury for Indian Panorama and MIFF. She has worked as a casting director on several international film projects, including Sara Gravon’s Brick Lane, Sangita Datta’s Life Goes On, and Italo Spinelli’s Behind the Bodies. She is a former artist and taught at various institutions including National School of Drama She is a founder member of Pragya Cultural Centre and works for tribal culture in theatre and film.
N Manu Chakravarthy teaches English at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels and has written books in English and Kannada on cinema, music, and cultural theory. He has a rich research experience in the areas of Cultural and Political Theory and Film Theory. He received the Best Film Critic Award for 2010 at the 58th National Film Awards. He was also bestowed the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award and Sri V M Inamdar Memorial Award for the work ‘Madhyama Marga’. Manu Chakravarthy was a member of the National Jury for the 58th and 61st National Film Awards.
Reema Borah is a writer/director from India who was a performing artist and did her master's in theatre before graduating from FTII, Pune. The shorts directed by her as a part of academic projects were showcased at many film festivals. Her films won the Kodak Film School Competition in 2005 and the National Film Awards in 2009. She wrote and directed Chaatak in 2010 and won a special mention at IDPA in 2011. Bokul is her debut feature film, which was premiered at MAMI. Bokul received five Assam State film awards and was screened at various film festivals. Her second film, Noi was premiered at the Kolkata International Film Festival in International Competition. She has completed her third feature Anunaad.
Don Palathara is a film director, screenwriter, editor, and documentary filmmaker from Kerala, India. Known for working on small budgets, his films are expositions of local Kerala culture and studies of human nature. Palathara's films have gained accolades at several international film festivals, including the Moscow International Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the International Film Festival of Kerala. He has served on the selection committee for Malayalam films at IFFK 2021 and on the jury at the Siliguri Short and Documentary Film Festival 2022.
Pablo César is Argentine, born in Buenos Aires in 1962.
He is the only Latin American filmmaker who has dedicated himself for more than 30 years to dealing with African themes, filming in Africa, and addressing issues related to Afro-descendants and the African cultural legacy in Argentine society. Pablo has been dedicated to professional cinema since 1987. He directed 16 long feature films, of which 9 are co-productions with African nations, making him a pioneer and unique in Latin America, and also 2 co-productions with India and 2 long documentaries.He has filmed in Tunisia, Cape Verde, Mali, Benin, Angola, Ethiopia, Namibia, Morocco.
Pablo has given seminars and workshops on Latin America-Africa film cooperation in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Togo and Egypt. In addition, he has two films in co-production with India.
He is professor at the Universidad del Cine de Buenos Aires since 1992. He has won international awards and has also participated as a jury at the festivals of Amiens (France), Montreal (Canada, Festival de Cine Joven), Kelibia (Tunisia), Huy (Belgium), Hyderabad (India), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Nador (Morocco), Abuja (Nigeria), Carthage (Tunisia) and IFFI Goa (India) and Pune (India).
Pan Nalin is a writer, director, and producer. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars) in its esteemed Directors’ Branch, Nalin is also a member of the French Academy of Arts and Techniques of Cinema (Cesars). He is celebrated worldwide for his empowering, eclectic, deeply emotional, and visually striking movies including “Samsara” “Valley of Flowers” “Faith Connections” and “Angry Indian Goddesses.” His latest; Last Film Show (Chhello Show) received an Oscar Shortlist Nomination as the Best International Film 2023. His films have collectively won more than 70 international awards at festivals like AFI, Toronto, Tribeca, Busan, Sundance, Valladolid, Melbourne, Rome among others. Nalin and his company Monsoon Films have coproduced films with USA, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and New Zealand. Nalin’s films have been theatrically distributed in 80 countries with major commercial success through partnerships with distributors like Miramax and Samuel Goldwyn Films USA, Shochiku Japan, Medusa Studios Italy, Orange Studio France, and Pandora Film Germany.
Vidyashankar N was the Artistic Director of Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes), which completed 12 editions. He is a former President and Secretary of Suchitra Film Society in Bengaluru.
He has been lecturing and writing on World Cinema, Indian and Kannada cinema for over three decades and writes regularly for the media. He is a member of FIPRESCI and NETPAC. He was Managing Editor of a literary journal in Kannada and the editor of a Film Society journal. He has compiled a book on European Film theories in Kannada and edited a book on African Cinema. He was a chairperson of the NETPAC International Jury at Busan Film Festival, member of FIPRESCI Critics Jury at the 70th Cannes International Film Festival apart from numerous festivals around the globe. He was invited to participate in a colloquium on Russian Cinema St. Petersburg, Russia in 2019.
Udaya Prasanna Vithanage is a Sri Lankan filmmaker. He is considered one of the pioneers of the third generation of Sri Lankan cinema. He has directed eight feature films including Death on a Full Moon Day (1997), August Sun (2003), Flowers of the Sky (2008) and With You, Without You (2012) and won many prestigious national and international awards and have also been commercially successful in Sri Lanka. In his early theatre work, he translated and produced plays by international writers, adapted works of world literature to film. He has battled against the censorship in
Sri Lanka and worked as an educator of cinema who has conducted many Master classes in the subcontinent for young filmmakers and enthusiasts.
Mara Matta holds a Ph.D. in South and East Asian studies and currently is a researcher in South Asian Studies at ‘Sapienza’ Università di Roma, where she teaches Modern Literatures of the Indian Subcontinent. Her researches focus on indigenous literatures, cinemas and performing arts along/across South Asian borderlands. She works on writings and cultural productions by South Asian migrants in Italy, especially Bangladeshis. Her interest in theatre and cinema as tools of social change has led her to meet different theatre activists and filmmakers in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Italy and UK. She is a member of the NETPAC and of the Archive of Migrant Memories (AMM, Rome). She is currently working on Bidrohinis: Writings of Adivasi Women of Bangladesh. The Diary of Kalpana Chakma and Other Literary Dimensions of Dissent. Her recent publications include a monograph on social and political theatre in Nepal: Nepal: A Theatre for Better Reasons.
Vidhu Vincent is an Indian film director, writer, journalist and theatre activist from Kerala. Her debut film Manhole won her the Kerala State Film Award for Best Director. It also won awards at IFFK and the John Abraham award. Vidhu became the first woman from Kerala to have a film screened in the history of the festival. She became the first woman to win a State Award in the category. She received the 2020 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Travelogue. In 2010, Vincent became the first president of Penkoottu, an organisation which highlights the plight of women employees in the unorganised sector.
T V Chandran is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and actor, predominantly working in Malayalam cinema. He did the lead role in P A Backer’s highly acclaimed Kabani Nadi Chuvannappol (1975). He made his directorial debut with the unreleased feature Krishnan Kutty, and followed this with Hemavin Kadhalargal. Chandran came into prominence after Alicinte Anveshanam (1989), which was nominated for the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival. This was followed with Ponthan Mada. Chandran is most known for his art-house films which have references to history and undertones of politics and feminism. He is also known for his trilogy on 2002 Gujarat riots, Kathavasheshan, Vilapangalkappuram and Bhoomiyude Avakashikal. Other acclaimed films include Mangamma, Dany and Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam (2003). Chandran has won six National Film Awards and ten Kerala State Film Awards. In 2023, Chandran was awarded the J C Daniel Award, the highest award in Malayalam cinema.
Amitava Ghosh is the founder secretary of Celluloid Chapter Jamshedpur which was established in 1985. Celluloid Chapter in Jharkhand is one of the biggest and most active film societies in Eastern India region. He has been functioning as the general secretary of the Federation of Film Societies of India since 2016. Apart from film society activities Amitava Ghosh is a renowned trade union leader in the public sector banking industry. He is actively involved in many philanthropic activities especially in the field of art and culture in the vast tribal areas of Jharkhand.
Pierre-Simon Gutman is the deputy editor-in-chief of L’Avant-scène cinéma and professor of film history and directing at ESRA (Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle) Paris and Brussels. After
studying literature and cinema at the Sorbonne, he defended a thesis on the American filmmaker Michael Cimino at the University of Paris VII (“The Creation of an American Community in the Cinema of Michael Cimino”) and taught cinema at the University (Paris VII, Nancy 2). He has collaborated and published numerous articles for Les Fiches du cinéma, Trois Couleurs, Eclipses and L’Annuel du cinéma. For seven years, he was a short- and feature-length selector for the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week and directed several short films himself. He is a regular speaker in cinemas and festivals.
Dr Minakshi Dutta is an Assistant Professor at the department of Cultural Studies, Assam Women’s University, Jorhat, Assam. She is an active member of FIPRESCI, India. She has published many articles on cinema in reputed International and National journals. She has also authored/edited books on Assamese cinema.
Melis Behlil is an Associate Professor and Chair of Radio, Television and Cinema Department at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. She has published on media industries and contemporary Turkish cinema. She has also been a visiting scholar at MIT and a Research Associate at Stockholm University. In addition to teaching and other academic duties, she writes film reviews for various publications, co-hosts a weekly radio show, and is a member of the Turkish Film Critics Association. She is also a board member for the Turkish Film Critics Association.
Rita Azevedo Gomes is a Portuguese director, screenwriter and winner of several film festivals, including the Torino International Festival of Young Cinema, Caminhos do Cinema Portuguese, DocLisboa and the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival. She is also known as a graphic artist, being responsible for several of the publications of the Cinemateca Portuguesa, where she is responsible for the programming and the exhibition space. She has worked primarily as an artistic director, set designer and costume designer in plays such as Sophocles’ Antigone and Chekhov’s The Seagull; and in operas such as Henry Purcell’s King Arthur and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. She also works as a costume designer, assistant director and scene photographer in films by other directors, including Werner Schröeter, Manoel de Oliveira, Luís Noronha da Costa, Valeria Sarmiento and Eduardo Gregório.
Dr Boukary Sawadogo is an Associate Professor of Cinema Studies and Black Studies at The City College of New York. He is an African cinema scholar and media professional who has published extensively on African cinema, including film reviews, articles, book chapters, and books. His three books on African cinema are required readings in several courses on African cinema that are taught at American universities. He has experience serving as a jury member in film festivals in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Africa. Dr. Sawadogo is also a regular guest speaker at universities, and research and cultural organizations. Beyond film and media industries, Dr Boukary Sawadogo’s work is widening in scope and depth to interrogate the place and trajectory of Africa today in the world through the diasporas. In this respect, he has authored Africans in Harlem: An Untold New York Story (2022).
Kiki Fung is film critic, curator, and Programme Consultant for Hong Kong International Film Festival. She was former Head Programmer for Brisbane International Film Festival and its successor, Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival. She has guest-curated for the Brisbane Festival and Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Before moving to Australia in 2010, she served at the Hong Kong Film Archive for seven years in areas of programme organisation, management and publication editing, having assisted in editing three volumes of Hong Kong Filmography, among others. She is a member of the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) and Hong Kong Film Critics Society; her recent essays published in Ain Ling Wong (ed)’s The Cinema of Wong Kar-wai and HKIFF Society (ed)’s Naruse Mikio, 110th Anniversary.
Ranjith, the Chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, is a veteran Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor who works in Malayalam cinema. He is a recipient of five State awards and his films Thirakkatha, Indian Rupee, and Spirit won the National Film Award for Best Malayalam Film in 2008, 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Prem Kumar, the Vice-Chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, is an Indian actor known for his roles in Malayalam films. He is an author and is notable for his roles in Tele films. He has acted in more than 100 films, and played lead roles in a large number of films.
Secretary, Kerala State Chalachitra Academy -- Executive Director, 14th IDSFFK
Deepika Suseelan, Artistic Director of the 27th International Film Festival of Kerala, is a film festival professional with over 12 years of experience in Film Programming, Ideation, Curation and Film Festival management. She served as Head of International Film Programming for the prestigious Golden Jubilee edition of International Film Festival of India in 2019. In a career spanning 12 years, she has associated with over 20 international film festivals which include IFFK, IFFI, Goa and Durban International Film Festival (South Africa). She was also a member of Jury at several film festivals outside India.
