Surya Deo to Receive ‘Champion of Film Heritage’ Award
Surya Deo has been at the forefront of promoting scholarly engagement with cinema in Odisha.
Bhubaneswar: The Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) has announced that noted film historian and critic Surya Deo will be honoured with the Champion of Film Heritage Award for his remarkable contributions to the preservation and documentation of Odia cinema.
The award recognises Deo’s dedication to building a community committed to safeguarding Odisha’s cinematic legacy, his efforts to preserve artefacts from the state’s endangered film heritage, and his writings that serve as vital records of Odia film history.
Surya Deo, the Founder Secretary of the Film Journalists Forum (FJF), Bhubaneswar, has been at the forefront of promoting scholarly engagement with cinema in Odisha. The Forum brings together critics, writers, and media professionals with a shared passion for studying and documenting Odia films.
An accomplished author, Deo has written several seminal works, including Bhangaruja Samaya (Deconstruction of Time), a collection of essays on Odia features (Sraddha Publication, 2006), and Odia Cinemara Rupa Rapantara (Changing Faces of Odia Cinema) (Pakshighara Prakashani, 2010), a critical study tracing the evolution of Odia cinema. His numerous research papers and essays have appeared in leading national and regional film and literary journals.
The Champion of Film Heritage Award will be presented to Surya Deo at the opening ceremony of the Film Preservation & Restoration Workshop India 2025, scheduled to take place on November 12 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.