2 National film awards till March, sai to head jury
Indian film fraternity will be busy receiving awards from the Information and Broadcasting ministry till end of March 2010.
Indian film fraternity will be busy receiving awards from the Information and Broadcasting ministry till end of March 2010.
In between the two national film awards — for 2007 and 2008 — to be awarded in October and March respectively, the actors will also be receiving awards at Indian Panorama at India International Film Festival in Goa in November this year.
“We have decided to end the backlog of national film awards by end of March next year,” said S.M. Khan, director,
Directorate of Films, the ministry’s unit responsible for giving awards.
No film award ceremony was held in 2007 because filmmaker Anand Patwardhan had challenged the process for selection of documentaries for the awards in Bombay High Court. It resulted in film award running a year behind schedule.
The I&B ministry is expected to announce the process for national film awards 2007 this week. Over 100 feature films and 50 documentaries are expected to competing for the national awards.
A ministry official, not willing to be quoted, said noted film director Sai Paranjpai was expected to head the feature film jury, which would consist of about 15 members.
Paranjpai is known for movies like Chashme Baddoor.
For the non-feature category, Kolkata’s Ashok Vishwanathan is expected to head the jury. Delhi-based Namita Gokhale is expected to head the jury on best writings on films.
The feature film jury will start the process of screening over 100 films at Siri Fort Auditorium from August 17. The non-feature film jury will start watching documentaries from August 27.
“By first week of September the juries are expected to submit the list of national awards to the I&B minister,” said a senior official.