The 56th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 2008. Three different committees were instituted in order to judge the various entries for feature film, non-feature film and best writing on cinema sections; headed by National award winner director, Shaji N. Karun, for feature films and Aruna Raje Patil along with Sunil Gangopadhyay for non-feature films and best writing on cinema sections, respectively.