Filmmaker Ayesha Sultana ( redness), Tara Ramanujan ( Nishidho), mini IG ( divorce), and Sunita C. ( 21 hoursParticipated in an open forum at the Women’s International Film Festival in Kozhikode and discussed the topic ‘Digital Cinema and Presence of Women in Technology Sections’ on Sunday.
Ms. Mini initiated some technical workshops under the Academy for budding filmmakers who do not have a film school background. Ms Tara also said that she could have done better if she had a little more technical knowledge. He was supported by Ms. Sunita, who pointed out that the director was often hated by experienced technicians because of his lack of technical knowledge. He said such directors are often curtailed, especially if they are women.
Ms Ayesha Sultana said that her film, which featured newcomers, had no value among distributors, and therefore, some commercial elements, such as songs, could not be released in theatres. Ms Tara said her film would not have been possible without the government’s help. Being a complete newcomer, the makers would not support him, especially because it had little entertainment value.
Later, the stage turned into a debate over director Kunjila Maskilamani’s incident. A member of the audience questioned the Kerala Chalachitra Academy’s President Ranjith about the criteria for selecting films for the festival, and why women filmmakers were not shown justice at the film festival.
Mr. Ranjith replied that Ms. Kunjila’s film was part of the anthology and it was not right to exclude a single short film from it. He said the filmmaker should have contacted him formally by e-mail. He said the academy had no role in the police action as it was just a law and order issue. Kunjila’s remarks about ‘naughty’ and ‘drama’ were questioned by other members of the audience.