The Kerala State Film Awards are the most prestigious film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards have been bestowed by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy since 1998 on behalf of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala, India.

The awards were started in the year 1969. From 1969 to 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. The awardees are decided by an independent jury formed by the academy and the Department of Cultural Affairs, Govt. of Kerala. The jury usually consists of eminent personalities from the film field. For the awards for literature on cinema a separate jury is formed. The academy annually invites films for the award and the jury analyses the films that are submitted before deciding the winners. The awards intends to promote films with artistic values and encourage artists, technicians and producers. The awards are declared by the Minister for Cultural Affairs and are presented by the Chief Minister of Kerala.

Kerala or Keralam /ˈkɛrələ/ is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was formed on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions.

The state has an area of 38,863 km² (15,005 sq mi) and is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Arabian Sea on the west. Thiruvananthapuram is the state capital. Kochi and Kozhikode are other major cities. According to a survey by The Economic Times, five out of ten best cities to live in India are located in Kerala.

Kerala has the highest Human Development Index in India, higher than that of most developed countries The state has the highest literacy rate in India with 93.91 percent. It hopes to be the first e-literate state in India through the state run Akshaya project. The state recently became and is currently the only one to have banking facilities in every village. A survey conducted in 2005 by Transparency International ranked Kerala as the least corrupt state in the country. Kerala is also ranked as India's cleanest state. Kerala has witnessed significant migration of its people, especially to the Persian Gulf countries during the Kerala Gulf boom and is heavily dependent on remittances from its large Malayali expatriate community.

This is a list of groups, organizations and festivals that recognize achievements in cinema, usually by awarding various prizes. The awards sometimes also have popular unofficial names (such as the 'Oscar' for Hollywood's Academy Awards), which are mentioned if applicable. Many awards are simply identified by the name of the group presenting the award.

Awards have been divided into three major categories: critics' awards, voted on (usually annually) by a group of critics; festival awards, awards presented to the best film shown in a particular film festival; and industry awards, which are selected by professionals working in some branch of the movie industry.

FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique) or International Film Critics Award given by the International Federation of Film Critics at various film festivals

(This is not intended to be a complete list of film festivals, but to showcase the distinctively named awards given at some festivals.)

Laurence Olivier Awards

Rima Kallingal (Malayalam: റിമ കല്ലിങ്കല്‍) (born 19 January 1984) is an Indian model and film actress, predominantly appearing in Malayalam cinema.

After being named First Runner Up in the Miss Kerala 2008 contest, she went to pursue a career in acting. She made her film debut in 2009 through the film Ritu, later appeared in Neelathaamara (2009) and continues to work in Malayalam and Tamil films.

Born in Thrissur, Kallingal began dancing when she was three years old. A dancer by profession, she has performed on national and international stages. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism. She completed her schooling from Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Thrissur, passing out in 2001. She was a semi-finalist of the Asianet reality show Vodafone Thakadhimi. She moved to Bangalore to pursue a modelling career and later participated in the Miss Kerala beauty pageant, in which be she became the first runner-up, losing to Shree Thulasi in a tie-breaker. She was spotted by director Lal Jose on a magazine cover, who cast her for a goat herder role in a Tamil film Mazhai Varappoguthu. The project didn't materialize, but she was offered the lead female character of Varsha by director Shyamaprasad for Ritu, which eventually marked her acting debut.

Oommen Chandy (Malayalam: ഉമ്മന്‍ ചാണ്ടി) (born October 31, 1943 in Puthuppally, Travancore, Indian Empire) is an Indian politician and the current Chief Minister of Kerala. He has held the Chief Minister of Kerala position earlier from 2004 to 2006, and was the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2011.

Oommen Chandy or 'Kunjoonju' was born to K.O. Chandy and Baby Chandy. Born in an upper class affluent Orthodox Syrian Christian family at Puthuppally,Kottayam district, Kerala, Chandy ventured into the political arena as an activist of Kerala Students Union (KSU), the student wing of the party. He was the unit president of KSU at St George High School, Puthupally, and went on to become the State President of the organization. Chandy completed his college education from CMS College, Kottayam, SB College, Changanassery. Later, he took a bachelors degree in law (LLB) from Government Law College, Ernakulam. He is also a trade unionist and heads several INTUC affiliated outfits.