ViBGYOR 2007

  • Dates: From 10th-13th of May 2007.
  • Venue: Delegate Screening – Regional Theatre & Nataygruham of Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi, Thrissur.
  • Festival to the People: in Panancherry Panchayat, some 10 kms away from Thrissur town.
  • Number of Films: More than One Hundred and Eighty films from around the world. Films screened at ViBGYOR 2007 will be taken around the country as a Touring Festival.

  • Organised by: Chetana Media Institute (Thrissur), NOTTAM Traveling Film Festival (Cochin), Global Alternate Information Applications(GAIA),Thrissur, Visual Search (Bangalore), Centre for Social Education-CenSe(Thrissur), Abhivyakti Media for Development (Nasik) and Marupakkam(Madurai)

  • In collaboration with: INSAF, SICHREM, Environmental Support Group (ESG), Visthar, ActionAid India, Vikas Adhyayan Kendra, National Adivasi Andolan, Other Media,Focus on Global south, Federation of Film Societies of India (South West Region), Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, Thrissur Municipal Corporation, Thrissur Zilla Panchayat and various film societies and voluntary organizations all over India

    Renowned filmmaker K.P.Sasi is the Festival Director and Mr. Rajaji Mathew Thomas (MLA, Kerala Legislative Assembly) the Organizing Committee Chairperson.

    Festival to the People

    The marked difference of ViBGYOR-2007 is the introduction of ‘Festival to the People’. Film Festivals often happen in urban areas and the urban audience gets ample opportunity to appreciate the beauty and techniques and discuss the politics of the films. The people whose lives are portrayed in those films seldom get a chance to see these. They rarely get any opportunity to know and express solidarity with and learn from the struggles of others of their ilk in other parts of the world. This year onwards ViBGYOR Festival plans to have an additional venue in a village close to Thrissur town. The local panchayat and community organizations and groups will be involved in organizing the festival.

    National Conference

    The second edition of the ViBGYOR film festival will start with a National Seminar on the focus theme of this year, ‘Earth’. The resources of Earth, which should have been shared by all living beings are plundered and exploited by a few in human species. They are taking away the right to live and exist of all beings. The market development in the age of globalization is taking away every thing the people have, even the smallest piece of land and the last drop of water on they exist. The Earth is struck with disasters and calamities both natural and human made very regularly. Disaster mitigation and Aid to the affected are as politically influenced as any other activities of human kind. The discrimination in Aid and violation of rights of the affected need to be seriously taken when one address issues of Earth and people. There will be presentations and discussions by renowned academics and activists from people’s movements at the national level.

    On the second day of the festival, there will be a formal inaugural ceremony of the ‘Earth’ Package of films. In the evening, there will be a cultural performance around the same theme, preceded by a get together of activists from people’s movements across the country.

    Film Package

  • ViBGYOR Package- 2007 with seven themes is the main attraction at ViBGYOR. The themes are:`Indegenous People', `Dalit Reality', `Gender & Sexuality', `Fundamentalism v/s Diversity', `Nation State', `Globalization' and Region focus (`South Asia’). Seven films each from the seven sections will be screened.
  • Focus of the Year: A package of thirty films on the theme ‘Earth’ from across the continents will be screened in the festival. Films on discrimination, rights, people’s struggles, alternate strategies and experiments will be screened in this section. A package on politics of and discrimination in Aid during disasters and conflicts will be included in this section.
  • Global Concerns: Twenty one Short and documentary films made in other countries in contemporary times will be screened.
  • Kerala Spectrum-2007: There will be a section with 10 films by young filmmakers from Kerala in this section, which will focus on pertinent issues currently discussed in the state.
  • Retrospectives: As part of honoring the filmmakers who have made great contributions to the short and documentary filmmaking, fifteen films by three great filmmakers will be screened in this section.
  • Animation, Music Videos and Spots: Both national and international entries will be selected, keeping in mind the general theme of ViBGYOR.
  • Open Forum: On all three days Open Forum will be held on topics related to filmmaking and social issues in which special guests from film, academic and activist circles will be invited as panelists.
  • Market: Documentary filmmakers will have an opportunity to interact with various film distributing ventures in the country. Also NGOs in South India can acquire films for their programs at this festival market.