New Delhi: A few days ago, when filmmaker Spandan Banerjee learnt that his documentary Parliament Street would not be screened at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) after all, he was bewildered.

Banerjee has screened earlier films at the festival and had previously won its award for best documentary. His latest film had also been selected for the festival’s competition, one of only 11 long documentaries chosen from hundreds of submissions. What made the decision more difficult to understand, he said, was that Parliament Street is not a political film.

“I have shown my earlier films at the festival, I have won the best documentary prize also in the past, in the same festival,” Banerjee told The Wire. “So that way I have to say that I was and I still am quite hopeful about the festival, the organisers, the old film culture of Kerala and the audience. But this comes to me as a shock.”

The film documents People Tree, an artistic space on Delhi’s Parliament Street that operated for 33 years before shutting down in 2023. It focuses on artists, musicians and singers and the closure of the space. “I was bewildered because my film is not really a political film. It is about spaces. It’s a thing about Delhi, my city. And it’s a film about a little space which got shut down after 33 years of functioning,” he said. Banerjee is among filmmakers now seeking an explanation for why their films have been kept out of the festival. The filmmakers have also approached the court in Thiruvananthapuram seeking reasons for the denial of permission, with the matter expected to come up on September 28.

The dispute began after the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting initially withheld screening clearance for 31 films selected for the 18th IDSFFK, which began in Thiruvananthapuram on September........

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