24x7 making movies, the race against time has begun

Mumbai, Oct 4 (UNI) Thirty five participants, shortlisted from over 500 entries received from all across the country have begun their race against time to make movies in just 24 hours.

It is the brainchild of the applauded film director Dev Benegal who is known for his widely acclaimed film like English August and Split Wide Open. The ''24x7 Making Movies' gives a chance to the 'aam janta' -- just about anybody to become a filmmaker. The event aims at breaking the barriers that a budding filmmaker encounters when embarking on an individual project.

''The idea is simple, the program tough. Your film can be from 24 seconds to 24 minutes... You get 24 hours to make it'', according to Dev Benegal, Explaining the genesis of his concept, Benegal adds, ''It started of as a crazy idea. What if for one week we could forget red tape, bureaucracy, development executives, financiers, the underworld mafia, film commissions and people who stifle creativity.

What if a person could walk in and make a film for free? No questions asked, no scripts scrutinised... no nothing... 24x7 Making Movies was born of this desire to see how the young generation looks at the world''.

As a result part of the spacious Fame Multiplex at the Inorbit Mall at Malad has been converted into makeshift edit suites, where, in batches of five, the participants and their teams move out everyday with their camera equipment, shoot their movies and rush back to the venue to edit their films and present a finished product in 24 hours flat. This year films are being shot on a unique and a very contemporary and relevant theme of 'Terror and Laughter'.

Beginning September 23, the 35 shortlisted participants have undergone rigorous mentoring by Dev Benegal and his team of talented technicians in the basics of camera handling and editing on Apple's Final Cut Pro, state-of-the-art digital editing software that's used for making multi-million dollar Hollywood productions.

The idea behind the mentoring was to neither spoon feed the participants nor overwhelm them with film terminology, but to just make them understand the basics and let them experiment with their ideas and creativity in a completely uncontrolled environment.

24x7 Making Movies simply gives the participants an deal environment to dream and the best equipment in the world to give shape to them. Their efforts are given an Instant World Premiere on the same day they are finished at the Fame Multiplex at Inorbit and gradually at all the Fame cinemas across the country.

UNI LS WD LS PM1649