For all South Indian cinema lovers, we’ve got an exciting announcement. SIIMA, South India’s most prestigious Film Awards, have a new title sponsor for its sixth edition- India’s most happening smartphone brand, VIVO.
The news came to us at the announcement of the first ever Short Film Awards presented by SIIMA, for Kannada and Telugu films, which happened in Hyderabad yesterday, the 15th of May, in a star studded event graced by the who’s who of South Indian cinema, including Rana Daggubati, Pranitha Subhash, Allu Sirish, Regina Cassandra, Lakshmi Manchu and Shradha Shrinath.
The Short Film Awards by SIIMA came about as a move to support talented short filmmakers who have been making their presence felt in the digital platform. The move met with a lot of enthusiasm from short filmmakers from over the region who have sent in their submissions by the hundreds, so much that the jury actually had a tough time picking out winners. With the rise of Digital India, the internet has become a space for a lot of creative minds to showcase their talent and it is that untapped potential that the creators of this platform hope to encourage by these awards.
The awards are also supported by actor Rana Daggubatti’s talent management firm, KWAN and he is thrilled to be part of this movement and be able to discover raw talent that could lead to “independent films and filmmakers to return to rebellious risky filmmaking”. All in all, this is definitely going to be a step towards even better cinema.
The CMO of VIVO India, Mr. Vivek Zhang was very pleased with the new association of his company with such a big name in the film industry. VIVO has been building a steady market in India ever since it’s lauch and he believes that this is the right direction to go, if VIVO is to be a household name.
The award for best short film in the Kannada section went to Chowkabara, and Arjun Kumar S bagged best director for Panmandri Cross. In the Telugu section, VindhyaMrutham took the title for best film and the Lakshman Krishna took the best director award for his film Krishnamurthi Garintlo.
The awards for the Short Films in Tamil and Malayalam will be given away on the 28th of May in Chennai, whereas the main event for the SIIMA South Indian Film Awards are set to be held in Abu Dhabi on the 30th of June and the 1st of July.