3rd to 7th December 2008
The 10th edition of the Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival was organized by Marupakkam, in association with educational institutions, voluntary organizations, film societies, theatre groups, cultural groups and other likeminded individuals of Madurai. The screenings took place simultaneously in multiple venues, in colleges, villages and various auditoriums. The idea behind the festival that is on its 10th year has been to create a platform for documentary and short filmmakers to reach out to audiences of Madurai, and in turn, to provide the experience of an international film festival for the people of Madurai.
The festival is a non-competitive one without any entry fee. There is no specific theme for the festival. As the Marupakkam blog says: “Any film that is produced anywhere in the world during the last 24 months (approximately) in any language, in any format, in any style is welcome.”
Inaugurated at the MUTA Hall, a trade union office, on the evening of 3rd December 2008, the festival travelled to multiple venues and finally concluded at the D.P. Hall in Tamilnadu Theological Seminary on 7th December 2008. More than 100 films were screened at various venues including colleges, suburbs and villages in and around Madurai.
There were international films, Indian films and films from Tamilnadu. There were documentaries, short films, docu-fictions, experimental films and animation films. There were point of view films, abstract films, personal and reflective films, activist films, ethnographic films, poetic films, observational films and many more.
The films were categorized under 7 categories. The first 3 categories – Films from Tamil Nadu, Rest of India and International Films – were curated through a selection process. The selection panel included artists, filmmakers, students, teachers and activists from the city. Another 3 were packages curated by Paul Lee (Canada Package), C. Sarat Chandran (Kerala Package) and Magic Lantern Foundation (Under Construction films). Finally, the retrospective section was curated by the respective filmmakers Anand Patwardhan and Deepa Dhanraj, who were also present during the festival.
Over 1500 people watched the films. Students, teachers, writers, artists, workers, professionals, business people and farmers were part of the wide range of audience. Each screening was followed by a discussion on form, content and context of the film.
The Under Construction package included the following films:
Notes of Man Capture by Nandini Bedi
Passengers by Nooh Nizami and Akanksha Joshi
Word Within the Word by Rajula Shah
A Certain Liberation by Yasmine Kabir
Nusrat has left the building, but when? by Farjad Nabi
Unlimited Girls: A fearless tale of feminism by Paromita Vohra
The Pink Mirror by Sridhar Rangayan
View from a grain of sand by Meena Nanji
Monsoon Cloud by MS Prakash Babu
Hot Off the Press by Bishakha Datta