IDSFFK 2025: Dalit Subbaiah wins award for best long documentary, Amma’s Pride best short documentary

Dalit Subbaiah - Voice of the Rebels, a documentary on the singer Lenin Subaiah, directed by M.K.P. Gridaran, won the award for the Best Long Documentary at the 17th edition of the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) which concluded in the capital on Wednesday. The award carries a cash prize of ₹2 lakh.

Shankar Goud’s documentary Negative Remorse, an unflinching account of the life of sin led by the maker’s own grandfather, won the award for Second Best Long Documentary, with a cash prize of ₹1 lakh.

Shihab Ongallur won a special mention in the long documentary category for cinematography in Ricard Dance. Bigyna Dahal won a special mention for sound for Cycle Mahesh.

Amma’s Pride, directed by Shiva Kirsh, won the Best Short Documentary award, while the Second Best Short Documentary was awarded to An Eventual Calamity of Time by Omkar Khandagale, who also won the Kumar Talkies award for best editing in a short documentary. Bali by Amoli Birewar won a special jury mention award. A special mention jury award for cinematography went to Raunaq Singh Chopra for No space to pray and another special mention for sound was presented to Piyush Jambhulkar for At the Margins.

Only to you, I surrender by Aditya Raj Bhargav won the Best Short Fiction award while An orphanage of Memories by Rayit Hashmat Qazi won the award for Second Best Short Fiction. A Special Jury mention award was also presented to Pechi by Abilash Selvamani.

In the Campus Films category, the Best Campus Short Film was awarded to Ura by Shruthil Mathew from the K.R.Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts.

Minister for Cultural Affairs Saji Cherian and Agriculture Minister P. Prasad presented the awards. The IDSFFK’s Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Rakesh Sharma, who made acclaimed documentaries, including Final Solution on the Gujarat carnage. Mr. Cherian said that the comprehensive film policy being formulated by the State government will include measures to give special encouragement to documentaries.