Kerala-based Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, born in 1977, started as a lawyer, but his passion for cinema led him to form a film society ‘Kazhcha Film Forum’ in 2001 for making independent movies through crowd-funding. His first feature length movie was produced by Kazhcha Film Society through crowd funding. Kazhcha Film Society is actively involved in film activism in the state of Kerala for bringing fruitful changes in the artistic film making for the past ten years. The travelling cinema movement, Cinema Cab – initiated by Kazhcha for promoting indie films in Kerala, has been highly appreciated.
Sanal’s debut ‘Oraalppokkam’ (Six Feet High, 2014) won him the “Kerala State Film Award for the Best Director”, followed by his second film ‘Ozhivudivasathe Kali’ (An Off-Day Game, 2015) being awarded the “Best Feature Film in Kerala”. The former also won the FIPRESCI and NETPAC awards for the best Malayalam film in the 19thInternational Film Festival of Kerala, 2014. Ozhivudivasathe Kali has also won the FIPRESCI award in the 20th International Film Festival of Kerala.
Sanal’s third movie has been premiered in the International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR2017). The film has won the prestigious Hivos Tiger award in the festival and received huge critical acclaim.