Many of the young directors in the industry today were groomed at the Film Review Caucus, which was started at the mini-theater by then-director Father Ernest Poruthota.
The awards ceremony, also like its Hollywood counterpart, has become a gala event that attracts film and television stars, directors, cameramen, scriptwriters, critics and journalists.
The award presentations are interspersed with dance and music performances by leading artists, and clips from award-winning movies and TV programs.
(It dramatizes the story of Valli, a valiant fisherman's daughter, who breaks social taboos in her fight to unify and modernize a fishing village long oppressed by the mudalali bosses.)
CIC Agri Businesses' advertisement, created to communicate its corporate values, won the award for TV commercial for "creative arts, television and cinema", for 2012.