Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi


Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi or Kazhcha Film Forum is a film collective in Kerala, India. It started in the year 2001 at Neyyattinkara thaluk in Thiruvananthapuram district as a collective effort of young film lovers. The aim of the Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi is to make films with artistic value with the contribution from the society. It has produced three short films with the ideology of ‘people’s cinema’. In the year 2013 the film society has been registered under the Travancore-Cochin Literary,Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955.

About

Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi has produced its first-ever movie "Wonder World" with the finance chipped in by film lovers. "Wonderworld" was scripted and directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, Camera was handled by Sunny Joseph and the film was edited by Beena Paul. It was exhibited in the competition section of International Video film Festival. In the year 2008 Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi has produced another short movie "Parole" which has gained attention as the first ever movie came out from Malayalam Bloggers community.
In 2012 It has produced its third short movie Frog, which has participated in many international Short film festivals and awarded best telefilm in the Kerala state television awards 2012 instituted by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. It has also received award for best back ground music and a special jury mention for acting.
Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi has produced it first feature film Oraalppokkam with crowd sourcing in 2014. Noted Indo-English Poet and activist Meena Kandasamy and noted Producer-Actor Prakash Bare, young Bangali film director Bikrajit Gupta are playing the lead role.

Programs

Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi is engaged in various film society activities in Kerala including crowdfunded film production, Crowd sourced alternative film distribution, film screenings and organizing film festival
Kazhcha produced three short films Athisayalokam in 2001, Parole in 2008 and Frog in 2012. All of them were directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan. Athisaya Lokam was a crowd funded attempt inspired from the great film activist and visionary director John Abraham. The short film was produced by the small contributions collected from the people of Perumkadavila, Marayamuttom, Keezharoor and other parts of Thiruvananthapuram district. Parole and Frog were supported by online friends of Sanal Kumar Saidharan

Feature Films

In 2013 Kazhcha started its first full length feature film, Oraalppokkam through crowd funding. More than 100 people contributed to this production and this film was again directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan. Prakash Bare and Meena Kandasamy acted in the lead roles and the film won International Federation of Film Critics and Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema awards in the International Film Festival of Kerala. It also won Kerala State Film Awards Best Director for Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, Best Location Sound Recording for Sandeep Kurissery and Jiji P Joseph.
In 2016 Kazhcha has produced its second feature film, Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani? again through crowd funding. The film is produced in Marathi language. The film was directed by Jiju Antony. The film has been screened in major international film festivals in India.
In 2018 Kazhcha has announced its third feature film project by an entire women crew. It has invited entries for the project from aspiring women directors.

Cinemavandi

In the year 2015, Kazhcha Started Cinemavandi, for the parallel distribution of Oraalppokkam. Film maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan inaugurated the Cinema vandi movement.. Cinema Vandi traveled through the breadth and width of Kerala and screened the film in more than 100 locations. An Omini Van was purchased and converted to a cinema cab. The Cinemavandi travelled across Kerala with projector, screen and sound equipment.. The cinema vandi movement helped to create a favorable atmosphere to art films for theatrical release in Kerala. Following the successful run of Cinema Vandi, Oraalppokkam was released in movie theaters across Kerala
In 2016 Cinema Vandi again traveled with Savam by Don Palathara and it could screen the film in more than 60 localities. In 2017 Cinema Vandi travelled with Ozhivudivasathe Kali, Oraalppokkam and Kari, which was the third attempt by Cinema Vandi

Film Festival

In 2017 we started Kazhcha Indie Film Festival to counter the unhealthy selection process in IFFK and bring up a space for independent films in India. Anand Gandhi, one of the pioneers in the independent filmmakers in India now, inaugurated the festival. The festival runs alongside IFFK for four days. The first edition of the film festival has screened 13 indie films from across the country which were neglected by IFFK. In 2018 Kazhcha renamed the festival as Kniff, Kazhcha-Niv Indie film Fest to acknowledge the contributions of our long term partner Niv Art Movies.