Showcasing Kerala cinema, writings in US festival

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 25 (IANS): A casual chat between a US-based attorney, an award winning director and a few leading actors in the US last month has morphed into the first festival of Malayalam films, TV programmes and literary work in that country next year.

The man behind the three-day event in May 2005 is attorney Ajay Raju, who is visiting this Kerala capital to follow up on the chat he had with National Award winning director Rajeevnath and others in Philadelphia, US.

He has also met directors like Syamaprasad and Harikumar.

"Second generation Keralites in the US learn their mother tongue by watching the films of Mammootty and Mohanlal. The biggest drawback of Malayalam films and other art and cultural forms of Kerala is that there is no one to promote them and it is here that we are going to step in. We plan to hold it every year and it would move from one city to another in the US," Raju told IANS.

"We would like this festival to match events like the Oscar Awards and the Cannes Festival. We have planned the three day event in Philadelphia in May 2005," he said.

Director Rajeevnath said the idea gathered momentum when the troupe led by Kavalam Narayana Panicker went to Philadelphia. "Raju immediately got interested and said he would use his links in the American corporate world for funds," he said.

The selection of the films, programmes and writings would be done by a jury from Kerala. The award winners would be declared at the festival.

Eminent personalities like Adoor Gopalakrishnan and M.T. Vasudevan Nair have been asked to recommend names for the festival.