Monday, June 2, 2014

SIGNS 2014 (Signs Short and Documentary Film Festival 2014): John Abraham National Awards winners

SiGNS 2014 : John Abraham National Awards winners

Best Film - Documentary:
'Candles In The Wind'
Directors: Kavita Bahl & Nandan Saxena
The film is extraordinary in its consistency, perseverance and empathy in exploring the effects of the current crisis of non-remunerative farming and phenomenon of farmers' suicide in Punjab. While following the trajectory of investigative documentary the filmmakers have made every effort to maintain and enhance the dignity of their ill-fated protagonists. The oft-repeated story in the media of the farmers' suicide takes a new turn in this film through the testimonies of the farm-widows who are left behind to navigate through the hostile terrains of the land and the devastated familial life. The enquiring camera blurs the line between the role of the protagonist and that of the investigator and reverses their roles by the end of it.
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Best Short Film - Fiction:
'Makhi (The Fly)'
Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
This film is distinct in its sarcastic depiction of the contemporary social system and playful ways of subverting the same. The contention over the market -driven system gets revealed through an extremely contrived and sardonic chain of events. The film is enriched with a unique intelligence and humour prevalent in its texture, characterisation, dialogues, and inter-personal relationships. The rampant instances of sordid manipulation of the issues of environment, public health, urban development and retrenchment come to stand on its head in this delightful film on resistance.
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Cinema Experimenta - Fiction:
'Aisa Nahin Hua Tha Tahira (Jumbled Cans)'
Director: Rajula Shah
The highly stylised and lyrical film simultaneously travels through multiple narrative tracks and different temporalities. Through a structure that coalesces the locations, spoken words, quotes from literary works and memories of mutations into a narrative the film manages to weave in a composite tale of human relationships and desires.  
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Jury Special Mention - Fiction:
'Thutse Kyume (Ordinary Times)'
Director: Takapa Karma
The jury would like to congratulate the filmmaker for successfully weaving in a fine political intention into the standard format of a crime thriller.
'A Dream Animal'
Director: Sanyukta Sharma
The film most unobtrusively turns the act of a sound recordist recording the ambience sound of a jungle into an exercise of learning to listen to the nature, for the spectators. The filmmaker's method of questioning our standard response to the nature is inconspicuous yet provocative.
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Jury Special Mention - Documentary:
'Shepherds Of Paradise'
Director: Raja Shabir Khan
The film, extensively shot in the treacherous climate and terrain of Pir Panchal range, not only documents the precarious livelihood practice of the Himalayan shepherds but brings forward the dignity in their lifestyle and finds humanity in their livestock.
'...Ebang Bewarish(...And The Unclaimed)'
Director: Debalina
While investigating the suicide-murder of a lesbian couple the film diligently unearths a hostile social milieu that accomplishes such crime. It is poignant to see that the filmmaker restores the legacy of the abandoned / dead couple into a diverse group of people who practice same sex love.

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