The International Film Festival of Kerala is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. The festival is held in November or December every year and is acknowledged as one of the leading cultural events in India.
The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor is an award, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India to an actor for best performance in a Malayalam film. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala. Since 1998, the awards have been constituted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, an autonomous, non-profit institution functioning under the Department of Cultural Affairs. The awardees are decided by a jury constituted every year. They are announced by the Minister for Cultural Affairs and are presented by the Chief Minister.
Lijo Jose Pellissery is an Indian filmmaker and actor who works in Malayalam cinema. His best works include Amen (2013), Angamaly Diaries (2017), Ee.Ma.Yau. (2018), Jallikattu (2019), Churuli (2021), and Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2023).
Poovankery Francis Mathews is an Indian author of Malayalam literature and a screenplay writer in Malayalam film and Television industries. A Winner of a National Film Award for Best Screenplay and multiple State television and other literary awards including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story, he is known for his original style of writing. Literary works such as Muzhakkam, Kadalinte Manam, Adiyalapretham, Iruttil Oru Punyalan, and Chaavunilam and screenplays such as Sararaanthal, Mikhayelinte Santhathikal, Megham, Kutty Srank and Ee.Ma.Yau are his major works.
Wilson Joseph, professionally credited as Siju Wilson, is an Indian actor and producer, who works in Malayalam films. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Film for his debut production Vasanthi (2019).
Girish GangadharanISC is an Indian cinematographer known for his work in Malayalam and Tamil films. He is the recipient of the National Film Award for Best Cinematography for his work in the 2019 film Jallikkattu directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, which was India's official entry to that year's Oscars. Additionally, he has also worked on Tamil-language blockbusters like Sarkar and Vikram.
Angamaly Diaries is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language crime film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by Chemban Vinod Jose. The film features 86 debutant actors with Antony Varghese, Anna Rajan, Appani Sarath, Kichu Tellus, Ullas Jose Chemban, Vineeth Vishwam, Bitto Davis, Tito Wilson and Sinoj Varghese playing the main roles. It marks Vijay Babu's first sole production under Friday Film House. The film features an uncut 11-minute long take in the climax featuring around 1000 artists.
Mayaanadhi is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language romantic thriller film directed and co-produced by Aashiq Abu, and written by Syam Pushkaran and Dileesh Nair. The film stars Tovino Thomas as a criminal on the run and Aishwarya Lekshmi as an aspiring actress. Their troubled love and struggle for survival form the basic plot of the film. It released on 22 December 2017 to widespread critical acclaim from critics. The film was praised for the way it tackled with sexuality and was included in The Hindu 's top 25 Malayalam films of the decade.
Antony Varghese, also known by his screen name Pepe is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. He made his debut in 2017 through the film Angamaly Diaries.
Ee.Ma.Yau. is a 2018 Indian Malayalam-language independent tragedy film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by P. F. Mathews. It stars Vinayakan, Chemban Vinod Jose, Pauly Valsan, Bitto Davis, Kainakary Thankaraj, Dileesh Pothan and Arya Salim in the main roles. The film had its premiere on 30 November 2017 and was theatrically released on 4 May 2018. The film revolves around the death and funeral of an older man from the Latin Catholic community in Chellanam, Ernakulam district. Lijo Jose Pellissery won the Best Director Award at the 48th Kerala State Film Awards for Ee.Ma.Yau. The film won the Silver Peacock-Best Director and Best Actor awards at the 49th International Film Festival of India. It also won two awards at the International Film Festival of Kerala viz. the NETPAC Award for Best Asian film in Competition and the Golden Crow Pheasant Award for the best director. It was included in The Hindu's top 25 Malayalam films of the decade and is widely regarded as one of the defining movies of the New Wave Movement.
Mahesh Narayanan is an Indian film director, screenwriter, editor and cinematographer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, he has also worked in Tamil and Hindi films. He is a recipient of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Debut Director (2017) and Kerala State Film Award for Best Director (2022).
S. Hareesh is an Indian writer, translator and screenwriter of Malayalam literature and cinema. He is best known for his short stories and his acclaimed but controversial debut novel, Meesa, which explores caste in Kerala in the mid-20th century. The novel, initially serialized in the Mathrubhumi weekly, was withdrawn after protests by right-wing Hindutva groups and caste-community organizations for "maligning Hindu women and temple priests". It was later published as a full novel by DC Books. Hareesh is the recipient of several honours including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel and the Geetha Hiranyan Endowment of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi. In November 2020, the English translation of Meesa, titled Moustache, was selected for the JCB Prize for Literature, the Indian literary award with the highest prize money.
Harikumar Madhavan Nair is an Indian film audiographer and sound designer. He works in Hindi and Malayalam cinema. He has worked on numerous documentary films and has won 3 National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Audiography.
Anna Ben is an Indian actress who works in Malayalam cinema. The daughter of screenwriter Benny P. Nayarambalam, she made her acting debut with Kumbalangi Nights in 2019. Anna has since starred in the dramas Helen (2019) and Kappela (2020). For the former, she won the Kerala State Film Award – Special Mention and for the latter, she won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress.
Jallikattu is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language independent action thriller film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery with a screenplay by S. Hareesh and R. Jayakumar, based on the short story Maoist by Hareesh. The film stars Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad and Santhy Balachandran. In the film, a bull escapes from a slaughterhouse in a hilly remote village and the villagers sets out to hunt it down.
Santhy Balachandran is an Indian film and theatre actress who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. She made her feature film debut as the heroine in the 2017 Malayalam comedy thriller film Tharangam, opposite to Tovino Thomas.
A.V.Gokuldas is a production designer in the Indian film industry. He has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Production Design four times.
Kenjira is a 2019 Indian film in the Paniya language, a language spoken by members of the Paniya tribe, a secluded tribe most of whose members are mainly found in the Wayanad District in Kerala State and the neighboring areas of Karnataka State. The film was directed by Manoj Kana. Kenjira and stars Vinusha Ravi as a girl belonging to the Paniya community. All other characters in the film are played by members of the tribal community. The film portrays the highly deplorable social conditions in which the Paniya community live: the humiliations, the exploitation and the helplessness.
Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-Tamil bilingual drama film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by S. Hareesh. It is produced by Mammootty Kampany & Amen Movie Monastery. The film stars Mammootty, Ramya Suvi, Ramya Pandian and Ashokan.
Prasanna Sujit is an Indian dance choreographer who primarily works in South Indian cinemas. He has choreographed dance sequences for various south Indian films. He has won Kerala State Film Award for Best Choreography, three times.
