Report by Ananta Prasad; New Delhi: It was a enthralled occasion for all Odias when out of 16 awards in a national film festival, where film makers of international repute compete with their works, Odisha Film Makers bagged four awards. 

On the occasion of Award Ceremony of National We Care Film Festival at India International Centre auditorium in Delhi, where Snehashis Das((If We Can Walk Together), Trinath Prasad Acharya(Patience) and Santosh Ku Panda(Helping Hand) from Odisha got awarded for their short documentaries, Helping Hand,  based on the issue of Disability. Another awardee Ambuja Satapathy(Doves Tale) however was absent during the award ceremony.

In a glittering award ceremony of 9th National We Care Film Fest, these odia film makers got awarded for their innovative and awestruck work in presenting the disability issue in a digital mode. Mr. Armoogum Parsuraman, Former Director UNESCO highly praised the odia film makers for their indifferent presentation of the issue and sensitizing the community through the visual mode. Satis Kapoor, Director of We Care Film Fest also appreciated Odia film Makers and congratulated them for their incredible work.

Snehashis Das won 1st prize in the category of 1 minute for his movie “if we can walk together’’ based on the theme that the walk of life is more comfortable if we can walk together. In the same category another film maker from Sonepur District Trinath Prasad Acharya have own in the category of Special Mention for his movie “Patience”.

In the category of up to five minutes the short documentary of Ambuja Satapathy, “Doves Tale” have won first prize which carries the message that people with disability too have their sexual need. He has tried to convey that when disable people’s sexual and emotional needs are rarely included in any discussion and representation in popular culture such as movies, music and magazines. Santosh Panda a Government employee but a passionate documentary film maker has also got the second prize in the same category five minutes. He has his different opinion in advocating for disability.

It is noted that We care had a film festival in Bhubaneswar for the first time and second time in Odisha in Collaboration with Bhubaneswar based NGO AAINA where 16 films by odia film makers were selected for final competitions. Out of those 16 films 4 films got national award and it’s a proud moment for our state and Odia short film makers will be encouraged definitely from this achievement, said Sneha Mishra, Secy AAINA.