Monday 09 / June / 2025
Muscat: Four short films from Oman have made it to the next round of the Kochi Metro Film Festival, a competition that features the best works of talented photographers and filmmakers in the Gulf.
The first 10 films win a cash award of OMR300, while the other five win a certificate. Among these, works titled Ayudham Pazhagu and Asia from Oman won the cash prize, while another two short films titled The Fault and Soliloquy were among the 15 selected for the next round.
Also present at the festival was Thasneem Khan from Oman, the creator of Ayudham Pazhagu, who was feted at the event. In total, 46 short films were submitted for the film festival, with a jury of five panellists selecting the 15 that made it to the second round. These 15 films will now have to compete for top honours, which will be held at the end of March 2019.
All 15 teams will also be provided the latest lenses and 4k Z-series cameras from Nikon, in addition to free filmmaking workshops and technical support. The winner of the festival will win a prize of OMR1000, while the second place winner will bag OMR700, with prizes worth OMR400 reserved for the team that finishes third.
Contestants who participate in the Kochi Metro Film Festival are welcome to submit as many entries as they wish.
However, only one of them will be considered as the final submission. The film festival was set up with the vision to identify, and then train, guide and support aspiring talent.
In total, four films each from Oman and the UAE have gone through to the next round, with three coming in from Bahrain, and two each from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Citizens and residents from the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council – Oman, the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain – are eligible to compete in the film festival.
The chairman of the film festival is the legendary South Indian actor Mohanlal, with fellow actor Raveendran, who has acted in many hit Tamil and Malayalam films, serving as festival director.
