By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In an attempt to usher in favourable improvement in the film industry in Meghalaya, a unique award ceremony is being planned as a tribute to film makers of the State and those people behind the scene who are doing a commendable job for the growth of the film industry.
This first of its kind event coined as the ‘Khasi Film Awards’ will be held in January next year.
General secretary of the Khasi Film Awards committee, Wankitbok Pohshna, said that this award ceremony will be made into an annual affair starting from next year and this award is meant for all commercial films screened in public theatres and released in the DVD format.
All films released upto April 2012 will be eligible for nomination, he said, adding that the awards will be presented in various disciplines including best film, director, leading actor (male and female), editing, sound design, music direction, cinematography, supporting actor (male and female), lyrics, story, lighting, special effects (SFX), playback singing (male and female) and sub-language category for Jaintia films.
“A lifetime award in performing art will also be presented which will be called the Jury Award,” Pohshna said, adding that the nomination will be done by members of the designated branch – direction, writing, cinematography and music direction – each having six members with atleast five years of experience in the field of film making, while a jury panel will be constituted to scrutinize the nominations including public voting.
Elaborating on the nomination process, Pohshna said only for films released before April 30, 2012 will be accepted from producers, directors, production houses and marketing houses who are required to submit their nomination forms by December 15.
“The forms can be acquired from Virgo Audio in Iewduh and Dolly Music in Khyndai Lad. Entry will also be accepted online at our official website www.khasifilmsawards.org,” Pohshna said.
He also mentioned that public voting will be introduced to consider the vote values and at the same time to get a sneak peek on the number of people who actually watch Khasi films.
In this regard, the members of the Khasi films awards committee had approached the State Arts and Culture department for support but no response has been received yet.
“We had approached the State Government on several occasions but the government is yet to respond to our proposal,” Pohshna said.
Besides, the proposed award function, the aspiring members of the film awards committee are also looking forward to organising their own Film Festival in the future, Pohshna said.