Wednesday, December 10, 2008

10th Madurai Film Festival 2008

10th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2008

Inaugurated at MUTA Hall (a trade union office) on 3rd December 2008 at 5 p.m. the festival traveled to multiple venues successfully and finally concluded at D.P. HALL in Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Madurai on 7th December 2008 at 5 p.m.More than 100 films were screened at various venues including colleges, suburbs and villages in and around Madurai.

There were international films, Indian films and films from Tamilnadu. There were documentaries, short films, docu-fictions, experimental films and animation films. There were point of view films, abstract films, personal and reflective films, activist films, ethnographic films, poetic films, observational films and many more.

We recieved films under 7 categories. First 3 categories (FILMS FROM TAMILNADU, REST OF INDIA & INTERNATIONAL FILM) were put through selection processes. Our friends here including artists, filmmakers, students, teachers and activists formed the selection committees and selected the films. Another 3 were packages curated by friends like Paul Lee (CANADA PACKAGE), Sarat Chandran (KERALA PACKAGE) and Magic Lantern Foundation (UNDER CONSTRUCTION). The last but not the least, retrospective section was curated by the respective filmmakers.

Anand Patwardhan and Deepa Dhanraj presented their films under their respective retrospective collections.

Approximately more than 1500 people watched the films. Students, teachers, writers, artists, workers, professionals, business people and farmers were part of the wide range of audiences.Discussions followed each screenings which were based on form, content and context of the films.

The total budget was approximately Rs.50,000/- which we mobilized through donations from friends and friendly organisations. We also collected a little donation from the audiences.

We thank all the filmmakers, curators, volunteers, co-organisers, educational institutions, voluntary organisations, trade unions, artist groups and general public for participating in the festival.

Our journey continues.

Amudhan R.P. - Coordinator - 10th Madurai Film Festival 2008