Film and theatre personality Jijoy P.R. has been appointed director of the State-run K.R. Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts, Kottayam. He succeeds Shankar Mohan, who stepped down as director of the institute in January this year following an indefinite strike by students.
Following the resignation of Mr. Mohan, the government had appointed Shibu Abraham as the director in-charge of the institute to run its day-to-day administration.
In a statement, Minister of Higher Education and Social Justice R. Bindu said the appointment of Mr. Jijoy, which followed the appointment of renowned filmmaker Saeed Mirza as its Chairman, would help elevate the institute to the top tier of film education schools in the country.
Mr. Jijoy, who holds charge as the Dean of the Film Department at the Film and Television Institute (FTII), Pune, graduated in Theatre Arts from the School of Drama and Fine Arts under the University of Calicut and holds a masters degree and MPhil in Drama and Theatre Arts from the University of Pondicherry.
He has acted in 55 films, 40 dramas, 25 short films and 10 serials and participated in 400 international theatre festivals across four continents. He has also received a Junior Fellowship from the Union Ministry of Culture and a Young Artist Scholarship from the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.
