A new indie film festival, named 7th Art Independent International Film Festival, has been formed by filmmaker Venu Nair, who will serve as Chairman and Festival director. The festival aims to showcase the best of international cinema and give shape to new film culture.
The festival will provide a platform for offbeat films with cinematic, thematic and aesthetic excellence that would otherwise not have an avenue to be screened. The festival will accept feature films, short films, and documentaries as entries, through their official website 7thart.org, from various countries across the globe. It has already accepted a group of entries, which will be evaluated by the jury members, including Shamil Aliyev (Azerbaijan), Bouhaik Yassin (France), R. Sarath (India), Suresh Unnithan (India), aside from Venu himself.
In a statement, the organisation said, "7th Art Independent International Film Festival is an international live screening monthly film festival with an annual Gala event envisaged to push the boundaries of filmmaking. Our aim is to promote filmmakers with a unique vision by showcasing it to a large audience. Getting recognition is increasingly difficult for independent filmmakers in this world of the content boom, which is why our mission is to carefully consider and select a wide range of films and present them to the indie film-loving crowd. We are dedicated to the exhibition and preservation of independent films. We showcase the art and power of storytelling worldwide and gather communities to share diverse cultures, viewpoints and conversation."
The statement further added, "Every month, the selected works will be screened and the winners will be awarded a digital laurel, certificate and trophy. The Best of the Best of every month from July 2020 to July 2021 will be automatically nominated for the prestigious Golden Conch Award. The winner shall be bestowed with the award at the gala event at Lenin Cinemas at the heart of Thiruvananthapuram city on Saturday 7th August 2021. All the official selections, nominees and the winners will be listed on our website permanently."