International documentary festival to showcase 97 films from 24 countries

 The 27^th International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2025 started in Madurai at multiple venues on Saturday with the screening of diverse documentaries and short films selected from various parts of the world.

The festival organised by Marupakkam – a media activist group based in Madurai and Chennai has kept up its consistency in taking the unseen and independent documentaries and short films to the masses. 

The five-days-festival taking place across nine venues including four colleges and two universities would feature 97 films from 24 countries – India, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Switzerland, Ukraine, China, the United States of America, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Bulgaria, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Iraq, South Africa, Austria, Albania, Israel, Luxembourg and Kazakhstan. 

The films screened at the venues could be placed under categories like documentary, short fiction, animation, experimental films, music videos, among others.  

The focus of the 27^th event would be the interaction the viewers could experience with the filmmakers themselves, said R.P. Amudhan, Director, Marupakkam film collective.  

“Around 20 filmmakers from across India will take part physically in the event to present their films and to take part in the post screening interaction. This opportunity to understand the idea behind the films can be helpful for everyone building their career in this line,” he added. 

Unlike previous years, Mr. Amudhan said the screening would be conducted at the LENS media centre on all days of the event. “Along with this, parallelly the screening would be in other venues on the specified days also,” he added. 

On the first day of the screening, he said more people from nearby districts too got themselves registered to watch the rare films which get screened occasionally in such events alone.  

He said, interested people could filter the films based on the details provided in the website: https://maduraifilmfest.blogspot.com/2025/11/27th-madurai-int-doc-short-film_9.html.