The 4th edition of Sailadhar Baruah Memorial Film Awards will cover the entire Northeast this year. The film awards instituted in the memory of one of the widely respected film producers Sailadhar Baruah, will give the awards in 10 categories.
Earlier, the awards were limited to the films from only Assam.
“We are happy to announce that we will cover the films from all the Northeast states from the fourth edition which we started in our fond memory of Sailadhar Baruah whose contribution to Assamese cinema is immense. We got an overwhelming response from everybody over the last few years,” said Mrinmoy Baruah, president of the Sailadhar Baruah Trust.
This year, they have also added two more categories.
Sailadhar Baruah was a prominent filmmaker of the state who along with Jahnu Barua made several award-winning films which included Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai (The Catastrophe) and Xagoroloi Bohudoor (It’s a Long Way to the Sea) and brought laurels for the state. He is also the first producer from the region to win the Golden Lotus. Baruah passed away on January 10, 2010.
The award categories are – best film, best director, best actor in male and female, best music director, best cinematography, best sound design, best screenplay, best editing and best art direction.
“We have added best screenplay and best art direction in the list. We are expecting entries from other states as well this year. The films should be censored between January 1, 2018 and August 31, 2019. The last date for the receipt of application along with Blu-ray/DVD is November 30,” said Ranjit Das, secretary of the trust.
On Thursday, the trust also announced its website sbfilmawards.co.in. The awards will be given on January 10 in Guwahati to mark the death anniversary of the prominent personality.
Last year, Utpal Borpujari-directed Ishu, which deals with a sensitive issue of witch-hunting in Assam, has won the best film award and Arup Manna was chosen for the best director’s award for his film Ananya.
