The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has instituted an award in the name of Odia short-film director late Pramod Pati which is to be given for excellent work in creative film from next year.
The award for the ‘Most Innovative Film’, a trophy and cash prize of `1 lakh, will be introduced at the 13th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for Documentary, Short & Animation Films scheduled to be held at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai from February 3 to 9 next.
Born in 1932, Pati was a maverick in the field of cinema. After graduating from the Utkal University in 1950, he took a diploma in cinematography from the SJ Polytechnic, Bangalore in 1952, and then worked with the Odisha Government as a film officer from 1952 to 1956. He made 14 films as cinematographer, scriptwriter and editor.
He was awarded a Government of India fellowship to study puppet animation at FAMU, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, under Jifi Brdecka, Edward Hoffman and Jiri Trnka. Returning to India, he joined the Films Division, Mumbai as head of its animation unit in 1959 and there he began making the first Indian animation film.
Pati, who died an untimely death at the age of 42, was the maker of a one-minute classic film Man and His World, which won him a silver medal at the Montreal Expo-67.
Pati was also the first Odia filmmaker to receive a Film Fare award in Mumbai in 1968 for his short film, Perspective, which was produced to mark International Adult literacy Year and won a well-deserved international award too.