Tamil short film Shashthi wins 25 film festival awards

Chennai: A quiet Tamil short film Shashthi has been making rounds in film festivals and has already won 25 awards until now.

Producer and director Jude Peter Damian has taken the short film to 59 international festivals now and is determined to show that ordinary women can do great things. The chartered accountant turned filmmaker says he always wanted to make movies projecting "good characters" that can set examples for developing nations and societies.

Shashthi is about Devi, a woman from an economically weaker background. She takes action to change society and her influence earns her the name Shashthi, the goddess of children. The film also deals with how perceptions change in different circumstances.

About the international recognition the film is receiving, Jude said he had such accolades in his mind since the time of writing and planning the film.

"I am happy about the recognition from so many international film festivals. But, honestly, I'm slightly disappointed that the film was not able to enter the Academy Awards competition. I hope I'll be able to make a film in the near future that gets nominated for the competition sections of the Academy Awards and Cannes Festival," he added.

Shashthi being his first film, Jude took a year to work on the story and screenplay. The shooting only took less than a week.