Filmmaking event named 'I am the change' held in Mumbai

Mumbai, August 2 : India's entertainment capital Mumbai witnessed a congregation of 101 filmmakers who showcased their edited five-minute films on a host of issues on Friday.

The initiative 'I Am The Change', organised by Cinemax and Mam movies, invited filmmakers from all over the country to make films on 101 Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs), based in four metropolitan cities, within a time-span of 101 hours.

As a part of this event 101 filmmakers were allocated one NGO, based in four metropolitan each and the filmmakers got 101 hours to conceptualize, shoot and edit their movies whose duration was less then five minutes.

Bollywood Actor, Farooque Shaikh found this initiative very laudable and said more of these events should take place to awaken social awareness.

"I find it very laudable that so many people are getting together and in a very short span of 101 hours are making a film that makes impact. They may have had nothing to do with that NGO and with which they have no familiarity prior to being allotted this NGO. I think it is very laudable effort and I can only envision a better and a brighter future for this. I think more and more of such efforts need to be made," said Shaikh.

The shooting of these group projects took place from July 3-7 in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

A panel of celebrities' judges, which included Anupam Kher, Ashoke Pandit, Kabir Bedi, Farooque Shaikh, Goldie Behl, and Ken Robinson, judged the best films and awarded prizes to the winners.

Sheetal Bhan, received the award on behalf of Frou Frou Production owned by Swati D'Souza for a film on a social cause of female foeticide.

Filmmaker Sheetal Bhan walked away with a cash prize of Rs 51,000. han narrated an incident when she was making a film on eunuchs, which failed to make a mark them (Eunuchs) because despite several movies their conditions remained unchanged.

"But, the eunuchs (on whom she made a film some time back) told us a very simple thing that despite numerous filmmakers making films on them they were still living in the pathetic conditions. What we understood out of their statement was that every film should have a social message to be effective. So our responsibility as a filmmaker was not just to make a film and win the competition but to make a good film," said Bhan.

The idea behind the entire exercise was to make sure that the young filmmakers of our country, connected with social causes, use the film medium to bring about a positive change in the society.

ANI