A Festive Atmosphere to see off SiGNS 2016

KOCHI:
With the Sunday crowds thronging Ernakulam Town Hall by the busload, the final day of SiGNS 2016 – the tenth edition of the hugely popular short film and documentary festival – wore a distinctly festive look.
The cinephile and the curious, young and old, bearded bujji stalwart and hipster upstart alike came together to catch the festival’s final screen offerings – among them Joshy Joseph’s homage to noted litterateur Mahaswetha Devi – before the curtains came down in the evening.
With delegate registration running to record numbers, SiGNS 2016 has been the best attended instalment of the annual festival organised by Federation of Film Society of India (FFSI) Kerala in association with the Kochi Biennale Foundation.
Students from colleges across the city and beyond came out in strength, many seeking inspiration for capstone projects and final theses in visual arts and mass communication courses. Among the educational institutions represented were Amrita school of Arts and Science, Edapally, Sacred Heart school of Communication, Thevara, Cochin Media School, Science Academy and Bharath Mata College, Thrikkakkara.
“I was hoping to come earlier in the week, but was glad to make it to the festival before the weekend. The 10 film retrospective section on Pramod Pati both yesterday and today was very interesting since I’m looking to include animation on an upcoming project,” said Raghu Lal, from Thrissur School of Drama.
Others came for the love of good cinema with a selection of films from across India on screen today. “It was a good experience for me to come see world-class films. Festivals like SiGNS are very important since they offer alternatives to the mainstream movies that dominate our theatre and television screens,” said Soumya Vasudevan, a literature student who hopes to become a film critic.
With such celebrated veterans of the alternate cinescape as award-winning filmmaker Neelan among others at the venue, the students had ample opportunities to engage in conversation.
Others took the chance to click selfies at the hoardings around the venue before the festival closed its doors for another year.