THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The passion of making and screening socially relevant films might no more end with just a couple of festival screenings. For the first time in the country, creation of a new distribution system for documentary films by involving corporate houses and NGOs, will be tried and tested at the sixteenth edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). Titled ‘Trigger Pitch,’ this unique and bold initiative from the Indian Documentary Foundation and the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, will look for a non-traditional and hitherto untried mode of distribution for socially relevant documentary films. “There are a good number of socially relevant films being made in the country, but they hardly go beyond the film festival crowd. We are trying in a bigger audience and wider reach for such films,’’ said Sophy V Sivaraman, executive director, Indian Documentary Foundation. Trigger Pitch, to be held right in the midst of the IFFK on December 13, will bring together the film-makers and all those interested in buying such films to a single platform, where the film-maker will be given seven minutes to speak about his film, which is supposed to ‘trigger’ responses to the ‘pitch.’ Trigger Pitch was inspired by The Good Pitch UK, a partnership between the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. On the platform provided by the 16th IFFK will be six powerful, socially impactful documentary films identified by the IDF, which have the potential to achieve a positive change if the outreach is increased. “Some of the films, like ‘A Pestering Journey’ can be used by the NGOs working in the same field or by corporates promoting Green initiatives. Or if there is a film on a particular singer, it can be used by the India Foundation for the Arts,’’ explained Chalachitra Academy deputy director Bina Paul. All the films which won the awards at the video and documentary festival organised by the Chalachitra Academy will be put up at the Trigger Pitch, which will also serve as the connecting link between the two festivals.“This is an attempt by the Chalachitra Academy to show that we do not forget the films once they are screened or given awards. The Academy is trying to help them get a wider audience,’’ said Bina. If all goes well, Trigger Pitch would henceforth be an integral part of the IFFK, as a blessing to all the documentary film-makers.
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