IFFI 2024, 05: The ‘other’ jury

Besides feature films, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has section of documentary and short films, broadly classified as the ‘other’ Jury. India also holds a Mumbai International Film Festival bi-annually, in February-March. Hitherto, it used to be organised the Films Division, now amalgamated with the National Film Development Corporation (MIFF). Guess, even that will be organised by NFCD.

We have written about the Feature Film (Indian Panorama) Jury at IFFI 2024, for its 55^th edition. Here are the names of the non-feature Jury:

Panel, chaired by Subbiah Nallamuthu, Rajni Acharya, Mithunchandra Chaudhari, Ronel Haobam, Shalini Shah, Usha Deshpande, and Vandana Kohli.

*Rajni Acharya has made feature length films, biographies of Mohammed Rafi (Dastaan-e-Rafi, Avinash Vyas (a gifted music director, who did not do many Hindustani films), called Suro-nu-Sarnamu, and another one on Sanjeev Kumar. He is prolific, and these are only some of the numerous films he has made. In his early days, he was the Public Relations Officer to major film and TV content producers. He says he does not make biographies, but lifeography.

*Usha Deshpande is the former President of the Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA). Pune-based, she is a Script Writing and Film Making Professional, active in the field for the last 44 years.

*Nallamuthu is a freelance cinematographer, director and producer since 1987. In a 27 year-long career he’s had the opportunity to shoot feature films, documentaries, news, corporate films and TV shows.

*Mithunchandra Chaudhuri is an independent Filmmaker, Poet, Head of Audio Visual Programme & Assistant Professor, at Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.

*Ronel Haobam, Imphal, Manipur based, has made a film called This film on the Zeliangrong- a composite group of ethnic communities of common origin and socio-cultural background. It highlights the rich cultural heritage and their traditional way of life, which is on the brink of extinction. This film won a special mention (Non-feature Films Section) at the 58th National Film Awards for 2010.

*Shalini Shah, who hails from Nainital, is known on the National award for her documentary film, From the land of Buddhism to the land of Buddha, in 2001. Twenty years later, she completed her first feature film, Samosa and Sons, shot during the Covid pandemic. It was screened at streaming on OTT. It was premiered in Mumbai, in the presence of Maharashtra Governor, where Bhagat Singh Koshyari was the chief guest.

*Vandana Kohli is a film-maker and writer, with an interest in the human mind, behaviour and efficiency. Educated in Film, History and Commerce, she topped Delhi University. She majored in Film Editing at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and has attended the Professional Program for Producers at UCLA, Los Angeles. Vandana has produced and directed the acclaimed documentary, The Subtext of Anger. Her production of the Indian National Anthem has over 9 million views across social media. Vandana has served twice on the Jury for the National Film Awards.