Kozhikode: Cultural activist and film critic Chelavoor Venu passed away on Monday. He was 80. Venu was under treatment in a hospital here.

A known figure in cultural circles, Venu, who was based in Kozhikode for over six decades, would be remembered as an organiser of international film festivals that introduced world classics to film lovers in the city.

He was the general secretary of the Aswini Film Society from 1971 till his death. It's through Aswini that he conducted film festivals. It was Venu who conducted the first-ever international film festival in Kozhikode with the participation of a variety of critically acclaimed movies at Pushpa Theatre. He hired films from the library of the Pune Film Institute and embassies of foreign countries and rented theatres for the fests.

He was the editor of the magazine 'Psycho', which stopped publishing in 2011. He published two books – 'Manas Oru Samasya' and 'Manassinte Vazhikal'. He assisted the late filmmaker Ramu Kariat before he returned to writing. He was the executive producer of the movie 'Ithramathram', by Gopinath. He produced serials too and was a member of different movie-serial award committees

Yuvabhavana was the first publication under his editorship. Political magazine Search Light, women's magazine Roopa Kala, sports magazine Stadium, City magazine, and evening newspaper Varthamanam were all published under his supervision.

There is a documentary titled 'Chelavoor Venu-Jeevithakalam' based on his life, which was jointly made by the State Chalachithra Academy and the Federation of Film Societies of India. Recently, he acted in a movie on John Abraham's life, directed by Prem Chand.

He is survived by his wife Sukanya, who is a retired employee of the Secretariat. They have no children. He was cremated at Puthiyapalam crematorium. A condolence meeting will be held in Kozhikode Town Hall on Thursday at 5 pm.