SYNE International Film Festival| Location | Cochin, India |
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| Founded | 2001 |
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| No. of films | From 2001, over 100 films screened, Genre: Feature films, Documentaries & Short films, Language: Indian Languages, Iranian, Japanese, Indian and Italian. |
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| Website | http://www.syne.org |
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SYNE International Film Festival (SIFF) is an annual film festival at Muvattupuzha, Ernakulam(Cochin) in Kerala, India. SYNE International Film Festival was first conducted in 2001 May. The First Film festival was started with the film The Cup from Tibet. The festival was conducted by SYNE featured 20 films during 4 days at Muvattupuzha, 35 kilometers away from Cochin in Kerala.
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon the festival's focus, can include international and domestic releases. Some festivals focus on a specific film-maker or genre or subject matter. A number of film festivals specialise in short films of a defined maximum length. Film festivals are typically annual events. Some film historians, including Jerry Beck, do not consider film festivals official releases of film.
Muvattupuzha is a prominent old town in the midlands directly to the east of Kochi. It is situated at around 40 km (25 mi) from downtown Kochi. The town is a growing urban centre in central Kerala and also an aspiring new district headquarter. The town is also popular as the starting point of Muvattupuzha river which happens by the merging of three rivers – namely Thodupuzhayar, Kaliyar and Kothayar – to form Muvattupuzhayaar. Thus, this Thriveni Sangamam or confluence of three rivers is called Muvattupuzha.
Kerala is a state on the southwestern, Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions. Spread over 38,863 km2 (15,005 sq mi), Kerala is the twenty second largest Indian state by area. It is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea and Arabian Sea to the west. With 33,387,677 inhabitants as per the 2011 Census, Kerala is the thirteenth-largest Indian state by population. It is divided into 14 districts with the capital being Thiruvananthapuram. Malayalam is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state.
The festival also offered filmmaker workshops, industry seminars, discussion forums, and outreach activities that include screenings in rural and urban areas where international cinemas access are non-existent. The second film festival was on 2002, which was conducted by SYNE in association with Muvattupuzha Press Club. The festival screened its first movie in the Muvattupuzha Municipal Park for 800+ Public film supporters. The festival featured 16 Films categorizing Family & Love as the main theme. The festival was inaugurated by Priyanandan, young film director in Malayalam language.
Malayalam is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé) by the Malayali people, and it is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam has official language status in the state of Kerala and in the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé) and is spoken by 38 million people worldwide. Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with significant number of speakers in the Nilgiris, Kanyakumari, and Coimbatore districts of Tamil Nadu, and Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka. Due to Malayali expatriates in the Persian Gulf, the language is also widely spoken in Gulf countries.
The third Film Festival was at Perumbalam in 2003, an Island in Alleppy in association with a regional arts community. The festival initiated with the film No Mans Land, featuring the war in between Bosnia and Serbia. The festival featured 16 films including short films and documentaries.
Perumbalam is a village in Alappuzha district in the Indian state of Kerala.
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago, such as the Philippines.
Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a country situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe in the southern Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. The sovereign state borders Hungary to the north, Romania to the northeast, Bulgaria to the southeast, North Macedonia to the south, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the west, and Montenegro to the southwest. The country claims a border with Albania through the disputed territory of Kosovo. Serbia's population is about seven million. Its capital, Belgrade, ranks among the oldest and largest citiеs in Europe.
The fourth film festival theme was War & Peace, conducted at Muvattupuzha in 2005 May. The film festival was dedicated to Twelve-year-old Ali Ismail Abbas of Iraq who suffered 60% burns in the attack which destroyed his Baghdad home and killed his family. Ali lost two hands and legs in the Second Gulf War. The inaugural film was Khantahar by Mohesin Makmalbaf. The festival also featured the documentary Godse.
Ali Abbas is an Iraqi man who drew a lot of media attention after being severely injured in a night-time aerial missile attack near Baghdad during the United States' 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Iraq, officially known as the Republic of Iraq, is a country in Western Asia, bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest and Syria to the west. The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. Iraq is home to diverse ethnic groups including Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 37 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish.
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, as of 2016, is approximately 8,765,000, making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world, and the second largest city in Western Asia.
In 2005, SYNE conducted Touring Talkies - Film festival along with Kerala State Chalachitra Academy at Muvattupuzha. The festival featured 18 films and exhibited the 100 years of Malayalam and Indian Cinema.
Touring Talkies is a 2015 Tamil anthology film written and directed by S.A.Chandrasekhar. The film consists of two stories in which S.A.Chandrasekhar himself acted in the lead role with Kolkata actress Papri Gosh along with Abi Saravanan and Manobala. Kerala actress Sunulekshmi, Ashwin Kumar, Roboshankar, Jayabalan, Sevvalai, form the cast in the second story. The music score is composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The audio launch happened on 26 January 2015. The film was released on 30 January 2015.
Kerala State Chalachitra Academy is an autonomous non-profit institution working under the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. It was founded in August 1998 for the promotion of cinema in Kerala, considering that cinema is the most popular art form in Kerala. The academy was first of its kind in India and was formed on the basis of the Karant committee report (1970), which proposed the formation of a national film academy.
Malayalam cinema is the Indian film industry based in the southern state of Kerala, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Malayalam language. It is also known by the sobriquet Mollywood in various print and online media. The films produced here are known for their cinematography and story-driven realistic plots. Works such as Marana Simhasanam and Vanaprastham were screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.
Marana Simhasanam garnered the coveted Caméra d'Or for that year.
Shaji Neelakantan Karun is an Indian film director and cinematographer. His debut film Piravi (1988) won the Caméra d'Or – Mention d'honneur at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. He was the premiere chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, the first academy for film and TV in India and was also the executive chairman of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) from 1998 to 2001. He is best known for his award-winning films Piravi (1988), Swaham (1994), Vanaprastham (1999) and Kutty Srank (2009). He won the National Award for Best Director for his debut film Piravi. He also won two Kerala State Film Awards for Best Director for his films Swaham and Vanaprastham.
K. R. Mohanan born at thiruvathra Chavakadu Thrissur was a Malayalam film director best known for his critically acclaimed works, Ashwathama (1978), Purushartham (1987) and Swaroopam (1992). He studied at the Pune Film Institute. Mohanan was the Chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy from 2006 to 2011 and the Director of International Film Festival of Kerala. He died of serious illness on June 25, 2017, aged 69.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer. Adoor Gopalakrishnan had a major role in revolutioning Malayalam cinema during the 1970s and is regarded as one of the most notable filmmakers of India. Adoor's first film Swayamvaram (1972) is credited for pioneering the new wave cinema movement in Kerala along with Olavum Theeravum (1970) and Athidhi (1974). Most of his films go to festivals around the world, and are released in Kerala. Eleven films he directed, from Swayamvaram to Oru Pennum Randaanum (2008), were screened at several international film festivals and won him several national and international awards. He won National Film Awards 16 times, Kerala State Film Awards 17 times and also won several international film awards. He won the prestigious British Film Institute Award for Elippathayam (1981). Adoor received the Padma Shri in 1984 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2006. The Nation honoured Adoor for his valuable contributions to Indian cinema by awarding him the highest cinema award of India, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2004. Adoor has made only 12 feature films in his career.
Vinod Sukumaran is an Indian film maker and Film Editor. He has won the National Film Award for Best First Non-Feature Film of a Director for the film Diary of a Housewife (2001)
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.
Madhu Eravankara is an internationally acclaimed film director, film critic, film scholar,film jury, film teacher and writer. He was born in Eravankara in Alappuzha District, Kerala, India.
T. K. Rajeev Kumar is a National Award-winning Indian director of Malayalam films, from Trivandrum. A Show Director,Theatre Actor & Percussionist (Mridangam). Founder member & leader of the Musical Band Blue Birds in 1980 & Super Mimics, a comedy show in 1979. Kerala University Winner of Mono Act in the University Youth Festivals. 1980 - 82
Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy winner for Mono Act.1979 - 82.
Abbas Fahdel is an Iraqi-French film director, screenwriter and film critic, born in Babylon, Iraq.
K. Ramachandra Babu, ISC is a Kerala State award-winning cinematographer of over 125 films, out of which most are Malayalam films. He has also worked for films in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Arabic and English languages. He has served as the cinematographer for several documentaries and advertisement films as well. He is the founder of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).
The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor is an honour, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India to an actor for the best performance in a leading role in the Malayalam cinema. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala. Since 1998, the awards have been controlled by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, an autonomous, non-profit institution functioning under the Department of Cultural Affairs. The awardees are decided by an independent jury constituted every year by the Academy. They are announced by the Minister for Cinema and are presented by the Chief Minister.
The Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist is an award, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India for the best performance by a child actor in the Malayalam cinema. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala. Since 1998, the awards have been controlled by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, an autonomous, non-profit institution functioning under the Department of Cultural Affairs.
Beena Paul, also spelled Bina Paul, and also known by her married name Beena Paul Venugopal, is an Indian film editor who works mainly in Malayalam-language films. A graduate of the University of Delhi, she completed a course on film editing from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, in 1983. She is the recipient of two National Film Awards and three Kerala State Film Awards. She has held several positions including the artistic director of International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) and the deputy director of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. She is married to cinematographer Venu since 1983.
Kerala State Film Development Corporation, is an organization founded by the Government of Kerala, India for promoting the film market in the state. It was founded in 1975, a period when the production of Malayalam films were centered in Madras. KSFDC was formed with an objective of moving the Malayalam film industry from Madras to Kerala. At the time of its inception, it was the first of its kind organization for film development under public sector in India.
Venkiteswaran Chittur Subramanian is an Indian film critic, professor, documentary film maker and writer from Chalakudi, Kerala, India, who writes predominantly in English and Malayalam. He won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2009.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Kerala:
T. E. Vasudevan was an Indian film producer, who worked mainly in Malayalam cinema.
Sanal Kumar Sasidharan is an Indian film director and poet.
Anwar Ali also known Anvar Ali is an Indian poet, lyricist, translator, and documentary filmmaker, he has been contributing poems and poetic studies in leading literary journals and periodicals of Kerala since 1984; Mazhakkalam, 1999, his first collection of poems established him as one of the prominent voices in contemporary Malayalam poetry; his poems have been translated into various Indian and forien languages and are included in several anthologies of Malayalam as well as Indian poetry of the post-modern phase. His other important works include Atiyaati Alanja marangale, collection of poems, 2009, Eternal Sculptures, Poetry Collection in English, 2007, and, I Rappai, Novella, 1995.