Skip to content Skip to navigation

Golden, Silver Rhino Awards to be presented in Guwahati International Short Film Festival

By AT News |


Some very exciting creations by short film makers from across the world will be showcased in the 1st Guwahati International Short Film Festival (GISFF) to be held on May 2nd and 3rd, 2011 at Assam State Museum Auditorium, Guwahati.


Altogether 200 films from countries like Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, USA and Australia as well as all over India will be screened during the festival under sections like World Kaleidoscope, Indian Kaleidoscope and the competitive section, North-East Shorts.


The World Kaleidoscope section will see screening of award winning short films from Cannes International Festival. Apart from that 7 award winning short films from Spain will also be screened in the World Kaleidoscope section, out of which PORQUE HAY COSAS QUE NUNCA SE OLVIDAN (Because There Are Things We Never forget) by award winning director Lucas Figueroa will open the festival.


A major highlight of the festival will be a special screening of the highly-acclaimed Malayalam "anthology film" titled "Kerala Cafe", directed by a team of ten directors - Lal Jose, Shaji Kailas, Anwar Rasheed, Shyamaprasad, B. Unnikrishnan, Revathy, Anjali Menon, M. Padmakumar, Shankar Ramakrishnan, and Uday Ananthan. For the first time in the history of Malayalam cinema, this film was conceived by a team of 10 directors. 10 cinematographers, musicians, editors, art directors and almost all the top Malayalam film actors. The cast includes Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Dileep, Jayasurya, Prithviraj, Sreenivasan, Siddique, Sreenath, Rahman, Thilakan, Jagathy Sreekumar, Salim Kumar, Anoop Menon, Navya Nair, Shwetha Menon, Jyothirmayi, Rima Kallingal, Nithya Menon and Dhanya Mary Varghese.



The festival is an initiative by Creovaent Productions in association with Shamiana, the acclaimed short film club from Mumbai.


The jury that will judge the films in competition will be headed by eminent filmmaker Shyamaprasad from Kerala (director of award-winning Malayalam box office hits like Agnisakshi, Ore Kadal and Elektra). The special screening of critically acclaimed film ‘Kerala Café’ by Shyamaprasad will also be screened during the two day festival.


The other jury members will be Assamese actor Adil Hussain (who is acting in Ang Lee’s ‘Life of Pi’, Sridhar Raghavan’s ‘Agent Vinod’ and several other important films in various languages, after having received acclaim in films like 'Gangor' by Italian director Italo Spinelli, 'For Real' by Sona Jain and 'Ishqiya' by Abhishek Choubey), this year’s Aravindan Puraskaram winning director Nila Madhab Panda (whose feature debut ‘I Am Kalam’ has won 11 international awards till now) and internationally-acclaimed Manipuri filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar (whose documentaries ‘AFSPA’ and ‘Mr India’ have earned global acclaim).


The competition films were selected from a large number of entries received from all over North-East India by a preview jury comprising noted theatre and film personality Nayan Prasad, eminent film editor Kaju, film critic Chandan Sharma and acclaimed director Bidyut Chakravarty.


The films in competition are:


Savages (Tarunabh Dutta), Serendipity (Suraj Duwarah), Dwita (Dipankar Das), Windows 4:3 (Angshuman Barkakoty), I Am a Poet (Shashanka Das & Deep Choudhury), Lemon Brothers Fall (Utpal Choudhury), The Silent Darkness (Jhulan Krishna Mahanta), IF (Khanjan Kishore Nath), Being Jobless (Shrutismita Changkakoti), 19/87 (Wanphrang K Diengdoh & Dondor E Lyngdoh), Bond (Anubhav Mahanta) and The 4th Law of Motion (Deepkamal Gogoi)


The festival will have a special tribute to young filmmaker Anghsuman Borkotoky by screening his film “Doctor, Nurse & Patient”, while another film by him Windows 4:3 will be in competition.


The prizes that will be given away in the competition section are for the Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Cinematography. The winners will be awarded with Golden and Silver Rhino along with certificates.


"The GISFF is an important initiative to create a platform to discuss, disseminate and in future market short fiction films, a genre that is finding more and more popularity all over the world in recent times. Young Assamese film entrepreneur Prithish Chakraborty of Creovaent Productions has developed the concept of the festival and I am sure in the coming years it will emerge as an important and exciting event in the film festival calendar of India," GISFF director and National Award-winning film critic Utpal Borpujari said.


Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

Congress may benefit at Nazira

10 Mar 2011 - 4:41pm | SK Hasan
Hot pilitical wave is going on at Nazira Constituency for the forthcoming Assembly Election. In the electoral battle field at Nazira the sitting MLA of Nazira and C.P.I. candidate Drupad...
People queue for screening at GMCH in Guwahati on 08-05-20. Pix BY UB photos

Real face of yeoman service pathetic

8 May 2020 - 5:56pm | AT News
Guwahati: The BJP-led coalition government's much hyped yeoman service stands exposed with one after returnees disclosing their miseries.  The journey by bus to the state was not at all free...

‘Black Day’ observed on note ban anniversary

8 Nov 2017 - 8:44pm | AT News Imphal
The Congress in BJP-ruled Manipur today led nine other political parties in observing Black Day on note ban anniversary decrying the NDA government’s move which they said still has serious impact on...

Rhino killings in KNP: forest department submitted report to CBI

17 Jul 2008 - 4:32pm | Ritupallab Saikia
The incidents of rhino killings in Kaziranga National Park, which have shaken the nation, has now been investigated by the country’s supreme investigative agency CBI. It is important to mention...

Other Contents by Author

Opposition Leaders File Police Complaint Against Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma Amid Rising Controversy Over Anti-Muslim Remarks

A day after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma declared that he "will take sides" and "will not let Miya Muslims take over all of Assam," opposition leaders filed a police complaint on August 27 accusing him of promoting enmity between different religious and ethnic groups. The complaint was lodged at the Dispur police station by Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President Bhupen Borah and Assam Jatiya Parishad's Lurinjyoti Gogoi, representing the United Opposition Forum, a coalition of groups opposed to the BJP and its allies. The complaint, supported by Independent Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Bhuyan, Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia, and Congress...

Assam : Where indigenous confronts suspected nationals

During our school days, when the historic Assam agitation broke out, we used to go to Tihu town in western Assam for joining  various protest demonstrations against the outsiders (read non-Assamese Indians) and the movement was initially known as ‘Bohiragata Kheda Andolan’ (literary meaning agitation to deport outsiders) to create a prosperous Assam for the indigenous population. Later it was redefined as the agitation against illegal migrants (read Bangladeshi/East Pakistani nationals) by the intellectuals and media barons in Guwahati, the virtual capital of northeast India. Simultaneously an armed movement also surfaced with an initial trigger from the economic domination of Hindi...

Bhartiya Gorkha Parisangh Welcomes MHA’s Resolution on NRC Biometrics-Aadhaar Issue

The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP), a prominent national social organization representing Gorkhas across India, has expressed its gratitude towards the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for issuing a notification that resolves the longstanding NRC Biometrics-Aadhaar linkage issue. This development is expected to bring relief to nearly 9.35 lakh individuals in Assam, including over one lakh Gorkhas who have been affected by the issue. Nanda Kirati Dewan, the General Secretary of the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, Assam State Committee, expressed appreciation for the MHA’s intervention. He noted that the BGP has been actively engaging with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)...

NSCN Issues Statement on Ethnic Conflict and Protection of Christians

Guwahati: The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) has expressed serious concerns over the ongoing Meitei-Kuki-Zo ethnic conflict, which began on May 3, 2023. Despite maintaining a stance of neutrality, the NSCN has been closely monitoring developments and is alarmed by the increasing violence, particularly against Christians. In a press statement released today, the NSCN highlighted a disturbing trend of harassment and physical assaults against Christians by the militant group Arambai Tengol. The NSCN identified the group's strong convictions and extreme principles as the driving forces behind its radical socio-political reforms. "The violent extremism followed by Arambai...

NEADS Launches Humanitarian Assistance Programme in Response in Dibrugarh

Dibrugarh, Assam: In response to the devastating impacts of river erosion at Mohanaghat, Dibrugarh, the North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS) has launched a comprehensive humanitarian assistance programme. The initiative aims to provide life-saving support to the most vulnerable and marginalized communities affected by this catastrophic event. NEADS is taking proactive steps to address the urgent needs of those displaced by the river erosion, ensuring that aid is specifically tailored to meet the unique requirements of different genders within the affected populations. The interventions are multi-layered, encompassing critical areas such as Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (...

Assam Don Bosco University Empowers Youth with Free Solar Energy Workshop

The Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU) successfully concluded a three-day workshop, "Swabalamban: Empowering Employment through Solar Energy," held from July 3rd to 5th, 2024, at its Azara campus. Conducted entirely in Assamese, the initiative aimed to enhance the employability of young people by equipping them with practical skills in solar energy technology and electrical house wiring. This free workshop was organized by the university's School of Technology under their commitment to social empowerment and sponsored by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) under its VAANI scheme, which promotes the use of Indian languages in education. Over the three days, 54...

Water Training Programme Commences at Dibrugarh University

Dibrugarh: The Seven-day Water Training Programme began at Dibrugarh University's Indira Miri Conference Hall on June 21, 2024. Organized by the Centre for Social Work Studies (CSWS), North-East India Water Talks (NEIWT), and NEADS, with support from the Heinrich Böll Stiftung - Delhi Regional Office, the event will run until June 27, 2024. The programme commenced with a welcome address by Dr. Monuj Dutta, followed by a background speech by K. K. Chatradhara of NEIWT. The inaugural session featured the University Anthem performed by CSWS students. Dibrugarh University's Vice Chancellor, Prof. Jiten Hazarika, inaugurated the training program. He emphasized the need for collaboration to...

Senior Forest Official Brahmananda Patiri Passes Away

Guwahati, June 2: Senior forest official Brahmananda Patiri, serving as the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the Chirang division in Assam's Chirang district, passed away on Sunday, June 2, 2024. Patiri, who had been admitted to Nemcare Hospital in Guwahati on Saturday after experiencing health issues during a meeting, breathed his last this morning. Patiri was a well-educated and widely read individual, known for his involvement in cultural and literary activities. His untimely demise has left a significant void in both the forestry sector and the cultural community. People from various communities have extended their deep condolences and are mourning the loss of Patiri, who was...

Ham Radio workshop on June 2 at Panjim

Panaji: Come June 2, Sunday. A promising workshop on science and technology will fetch no less benefit for the tech-savvy school and college students in Panjim. Courtesy the Ham Radio. Just they need to participate actively June 2nd@Jambul Café, Panjim. The much-awaited 2-hour workshop will take you away to a fascinating world of amateur radio, popularly known as Ham Radio. The topic of the workshop will range from radio waves operation to the see live streaming demonstrations apart from the handling of the real radio equipment. According to the organizers here, it will open the flood gates for the technology-savvy people to get to know the first hand knowledge of the basics of Ham...

Assam Don Bosco University School of Technology Hosts Career Counselling Seminar

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Assam Don Bosco University School of Technology organized a Career Counselling Seminar today. Focus on future-proofing skills: The seminar, addressed by Mr. Partha Pratim Baruah, Founder and Director of Vidhi Analytica, an agri-tech startup based in Guwahati, emphasized the importance of an entrepreneurial mindset. Mr. Baruah encouraged students to develop skills for the future,  comparing them to Lord Ganesha – with a keen sense of future trends (long nose) and a deep understanding of their surroundings (big ears). Bridging the gap between academics and industry:  Mr. Baruah stressed the need to connect classroom learning with...