Seven films from Asia are shortlisted for awards at the 26th International Catholic Film Festival scheduled to be held in Poland.

The festival that started in 1985 under the communist regime in Poland has survived all these years “without official support from the mainstream World Catholic Media Organizations,” said Zygmunt Gutowski, founder-president of the festival.

Over these years, this oldest running International Catholic film festival, received nearly 5,000 films and programs from 50 countries.

This year’s festival, which has 12 categories for awards, has drawn 170 films and 35 radio and multimedia programs from 22 countries. The festival is to take place at the Polish national shrine to Mary Immaculate at Niepokalanow, near Warsaw, June 1-5.

The four Asian countries participating are India, Indonesia, Israel and Japan.

Among the four films nominated for awards and special mentions are “Messiah,” a 78-minute telefilm in Malayalam by Capuchin Fr Ranjit from Kerala, India, and “The Burdensome Stone” (97 minutes) documentary by Tali Ohaion from Israel.

In the educational category there is the documentary “Pool of Siloam” (25 minutes) by Indian director Biju Michael from Israel.

The multimedia section has a 25-minute animation film entitled “DB Flash Film” by Jiji Kalavanal from DB Image, Kochi, India.

A 10-minute documentary from Indonesia entitled “Harikartini” by Budiyanto is shortlisted for a special mention.

Competing for the special prizes are two productions from Japan entitled “Maxmillian Kolbe” (95 minutes) and “A Day With Mother Teresa” (73 minutes) by veteran director Shigeki Chiba.

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