The Shades International Short Film Festival (SISFF), curated by an all-women jury, has invited entries for its fourth edition. The first edition was held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, while the last two were conducted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In its third edition, the SISFF had 136 competitive entries.
This year, the festival director is filmmaker Jeeva Savithri Janardhanan, who made the critically acclaimed film Richter Scale 7.6. Others involved in the running of the fest include actor Divya Usha Gopinath, last year’s festival director Jijith Nambradth, former professor at St Xavier's College Patricia Janet Christo, filmmaker Vikas Valsan and producer Ajmal Shahul. The women jury comprises actor-director Revathi Asha Kelunni, writer-director Tahira Kashyap and actor Kani Kusruthi.
Films shot on film or video (analog / digital format) after January 2021 within a running duration of 45 minutes are eligible for application. If the language of the film is not English, it must be dubbed or subtitled in English. Rupees one lakh is the total prize money. It is divided into three categories: Rs 50,000 for best film, Rs 25,000 for best director and Rs 25,000 for best actor.
Shades had begun as an initiative of the Pi Collective in 2019. While Aniruddha Sharma was the first festival director, directors Anjali Menon, Leena Manimekalai and actor Amala Akkineni formed the jury.
Meanwhile, the 27th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) to be held in December has given out the list of 10 international films which will be part of its international competition section. Earlier, the Kerala Chalachithra Academy that organises the festival announced that two Malayalam films - Ariyippu directed by Mahesh Narayanan and Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam by Lijo Jose Pellissery - are part of the competition. The two other Indian films in the competition are A place of our own (Hindi) by Ektara Collective and Our home (Manipuri) by Romi Meitei Mayanglambam.