The Montage Movie Club, Manjeri, which recently won the John Abraham Award for the best film society in 2008, is organizing a film festival at Manjeri on January 31 to express solidarity with the sufferings of Palestinians.

Palestinian films Philippe Aractingi's Under the Bombs (2007), Hany Abu-Assad's Paradise Now (2005), Simone Bitton's Mur (2004), Mai Masri's Beirut Diaries (2006) and Frontiers of Dreams and Fears (2001) will be screened at the Woodbine Auditorium from 9 a.m. Social critic K.E.N. Kunahmed will address a public meeting at the Municipal bus stand open-air auditorium in the evening at 5 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Montage Movie Club office-bearers said that the John Abraham Award, comprising a cash award and a citation, was in recognition of the work they did for the past eight years.

“When other film societies limited their activities to certain namesake film screenings, we succeeded to a great extent in reaching out to the public with popular movies,” said Madhu Janardhanan, founder-member of the club, adding that they differ from other film societies by giving membership to all sections of societies, including students. The award is presented by the Federation of Film Societies of India (south-west region).

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