The Kerala Association Kuwait conducted the 10th edition of the Kaniyapuram Ramachandran Memorial International Short Film Festival, "Nottam 2023", at the Aspire Indian International School Abbasiya in Kuwait on Friday, March 17. The event featured 30 films, including three entries in the student category, with submissions from India and other GCC countries.
The festival comprised an exhibition section, a competition section, and an open forum. Famous movie star Jayan Cherthala was the chief guest. Former MLA Sathyan Mokeri inaugurated the festival. Manikuttan Edakat , Secretary of Kerala Association Kuwait, presented the welcome address. The meeting was presided by Baby Ouseph, The president of Kerala association.Festival Director Vinod Valooparampil spoke about the festival.
Mohammadali VP, the CEO and President of Medx Medicare, Rajeesh Chinnan, Mentor of Neelsaj group, and Praveen Nandilath, the Association Coordinator offered their greetings and expressed their appreciation. Srilal Murali, the Convenor of Notam, delivered a vote of thanks.
Renowned film critic Dr. CS Venkiteswaran, cinematographer Sunny Joseph, and film star Sajitha Madathil participated as jury members. Dr. Darshana Sreedhar, Asst professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, also spoke about the cinema culture of the diaspora and the Nottam Film Festival.
The Grand Jury Award went to "Mulaqat," directed by Mohammad Salih, while Santhosh Purakattiri's "Kurukku" won the Best Pravasi Film award. The Best Audience Film award was shared by TK Saranyadevi's "Chest No. 1315" and Nishad Kattoor's "Paasham." Habeel Harshad's "Samam" won the Best Movie in the Students category.
The individual awards included Best Director awarded to Pradeep Mandoor for "Thondiachamma," Best Actor to Anoop Varghese for his performance in "Antharikam" and "Santo", Best Actress to Agna K Alexander for "Meghangalkku Mukalilayi" Other winners were Sarathkumar Sasidharan for Best Scriptwriter (Akkam), Mittu Joseph for Best Editor (Motta Pottiya case), Viju Antony for Best Cinematographer (Mulaqat),Raghu Irikkur for Best Sound Designer (Thondiachchamma), Ajith Puthupalli and Rajeev Devanandanam for Best Production Design for "Aliante Aayiram" and "Paasham" respectively, and Yara Mehrish Javed for Best Child Actor in "Dora" and Shayan Shamnas for Best Child Actor in "Flush Out".
The Jury Special Mentions were given to Habeel Harshad for Direction for "Samam," Shaiju Prem for Direction for "Sparsam," and Pradeep Vasu for Script for "Yes Proceed".
A technical workshop led by the jury members was also held at the Abbasiya Poppins Auditorium on Saturday, March 18, for the movie lovers.
Coordination of the festival was managed by Baiju K Thomas, Unnimaya Unnikrishnan, Samad Salam, Shaji Raghuvaran, Ubaid Palluruthy, Manju Mohanan, Shamnad, Amrit Sen, Srihari, Sheeba Alex, Harish Raghavan, Yasser Patil, Sheeba, Shailesh, and Sheela.