The 56th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India to celebrate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 2008.
A committee headed by Aruna Raje Patil was appointed to evaluate the non-feature films awards.
The jury members were:[1][2] Official name: Swarna Kamal[1][8] All the awardees are awarded with 'Golden Lotus Award (Swarna Kamal)', a certificate and cash prize.
The awards aim at encouraging study and appreciation of cinema as an art form and dissemination of information and critical appreciation of this art-form through publication of books, articles, reviews etc.
A committee headed by Sunil Gangopadhyay was appointed to evaluate the writing on Indian cinema.