SIGNS, the Festival of Documentaries and Short Features in Video for the JOHN ABRAHAM NATIONAL
AWARDS organized by the Federation of Film Societies in Keralam (FFSI-SWR) is the platform for showcasing the best of digital/video productions made in the country every year. SIGNS provides video/film makers a rare opportunity to show their films before a wider audience, share their experiences with fellow filmmakers and also to interact with them. We also conduct a touring festival of select films from SIGNS in different parts of South India. With this exposure and dialogue one could feel their natural blossoming through explorations of the possibilities of interaction with their peers and viewing communities. Animated by the presence of filmmakers, activists, cineastes and critics from all over the country, SIGNS offers opportunities for creative interactions and discussions and, possibly, new partnerships and ventures.
Background
The prestigious John Abraham Awards were originally instituted in 1999 by the Federation of Film Societies of India (South West Region) as an annual film award for the Best Malayalam feature film, short film, and documentary, in memory of JOHN ABRAHAM (1937-1987), the guiding spirit behind radical initiatives for people’s cinema in Malayalam, who extended the horizons of film making, aesthetically and politically.
From 2005, the competition has been extended to the National level, focusing exclusively on docu-mentary and short films in video format. In 2005, the three-member jury was chaired by Mr. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, with Ms. Chanditha Mukherjee and Mr. Sunny Joseph as members. In 2006 Mr. Sayeed Akthar Mirza was the Chairman and Ms. Bina Paul Venugopal and Mr. M.R.Rajan were the members of the jury.
SIGNS 2007, we hope, will take this spirit of freedom, exploration and expression forward to create new synergies and open fresh possibilities. We have two more awards from this edition onwards, one for the best Student Video and another one for Cinema of Resistance.
Awards
For Documentaries & short features in Competition Section
1. Best Documentary : Prize money : Rs 25,000,
2. Best Short Feature (not exceeding 70 minutes) : Prize money : Rs 25,000
3. Best Student Video (Short feature or documentary): Prize money : Rs10,000
4.Cinema of Resistance (Award for the best video - short feature or documentary - on subjects like State oppression, human rights violation, gender, environmental, social, cultural or any other issue that suppresses the human spirit.) : Prize money : Rs. 10,000
All awards carry Certificate of Merit and memento.
SIGNS 2007
