The International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will have a new awards category this year. It is called the Spirit of Cinema award.
At a press conference here on Monday, the Chalachitra Academy chairman Ranjith said the inaugural award in the category would be presented to Kurdish filmmaker Lisa Calan during the 26 th edition of the IFFK, which would open at Thiruvananthapuram on March 18. Calan had lost both her legs during a terrorist attack in Turkey in 2015.
“This award, which is worth ₹5 lakh, is for people like her, whose passion for cinema shines through even in most trying circumstances,” Ranjith said. “We will continue to recognise such filmmakers at the future editions of the IFFK.”
He said students would get special attention at the IFFK. “We have found that the students are serious viewers of cinema and they need to encouraged,” he said. “We try to issue as many passes to them as possible and we are also trying to get concessions for them from hotels for their stay during the festival.”
