The Portraits
Bijukumar Damodaran
India. 2021. 89 min

The Portraits” is a collection of six cinematic sketches that depict the various means by which fascist governments tries to silence its own people. The state hunting down its citizens suspected of political and Maoist links, suppression of people’s struggles against ecocide, mechanisation and labour strikes, people’s counter-attacks against state-sponsored violence, the state imposing a new type of obedience on its people in the wake of a new epidemic that causes its victims to go into a state of slumber; these are the six cinematic portraits that make up this collection.

BIJUKUMAR DAMODARAN

Dr. Biju (Bijukumar Damodaran) is a three-time India’s national award-winning filmmaker. He is considered one of the most important contemporary voices in Indian cinema. He is one of the rare filmmakers in India who is always raising his voice openly for social justice, gender equality, environmental problems, and marginalized people issues. His first film “Saira” was screened in the Cannes film festival in 2007 under the “Cinema of the world “section. Biju’s films have been screened at many international film festivals and won numerous awards. The festivals include Cannes, Montreal, Shanghai, Telluride, Cairo, Iran (Fajr), Eurasia Almaty, Jeonju, Tallinn, Oporto, Dhaka, IFFK, and IFFI. His film “Trees under the sun” premiered at the Shanghai International film festival 2019 and won the Outstanding Artistic Achievement award. This is the first time an Indian film won any award in the Golden Goblet competition at the Shanghai festival from its inception.

He has been invited as a member of the jury to many well-known film festivals across the world including Russia, Iran, Indonesia, India.

He was worked as a jury member for India’s National Film Awards 2012 and India’s Oscar selection committee 2015.

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