The NHRC announced on Wednesday opening of entries for the sixth edition of its annual competition on short films on human rights. This year, the cash prize money for the three awards have been doubled to Rs 2 lakh, Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 1 lakh for the first, second and third positions respectively, officials said.

Entries have been invited online only. The last date to receive them is October 15,  the National Human Rights Commission said in a statement. The NHRC has opened the entries for its sixth annual competition on short films on human rights, it said.

The aim of the award scheme is to encourage and acknowledge cinematic and creative efforts of citizens, irrespective of their age, towards promotion and protection of human rights, the rights panel said. There is no entry fee and bar on the number of films that can be sent by an individual for participation in the contest. However, participants will have to send each film separately.

The films may be in any Indian languages with subtitles in English or made in English. Duration of the short film should not be less than three minutes or more than 10 minutes, it said. These films could be a documentary, dramatisation of real stories or a work of fiction in any technical format, including animation.

The themes of these films could be broadly based on various socioeconomic, cultural and political rights, within the ambit of right to life, liberty, equality and dignity. The films may cover issues specific to bonded and child labour, women and children’s rights, domestic violence, human rights violation due to police atrocities, custodial violence and torture, right to food and nutritional security, rights of LGBTI, it added. PTI KND HMB