Festival of Short films begins in capital

New Delhi, Jan 3 (UNI) For the next two days, the capital will play host to a film festival of a different kind! A festival of short films, the first of its kind in the Capital and showcasing works from a cream of cinematic talent across India, opened in the Capital today as an endeavour to provided much needed space to the fledgling genre in India.

'Twilight', an exclusive festival of short films to be held till January 5, is aimed at providing platform to a select band of filmmakers who have made their mark on the International arena with their "socially-relevant and "value-based" films.

The festival, which opened this evening with Sudipto Sen's 'Akhnoor', will have established filmmakers and students of filmmaking share screen space with films like 'Reflections' by Bejoy Nambiar(starring Mohan Lal and Juhi Babbar), 'Printed Rainbow' by Gitanjali Rao, the Oscar-nominated 'Little Terrorist' by Ashvin Kumar, "Cherry on the Top" by Ayesha Sood and Nitya Mehra, ' and "Right Here Right Now" by Anand Gandhi.

Lighting the inaugural lamp at India International Centre in the capital, chairman of the film festival Pradeep Narang said,''the festival's objective is to encourage films with meaning, depth and made in a limited budget.'' Mr Narang said the festival, the first endeavour in India to showcase short films, was aimed at dispelling the impression that short films were meant ontly for a limited audience.

''There is an overriding feeling that short films do not succeed at the box office. however, I do not see any reason why films which bind the society through their messages should fail at the box office. The festival is an endeavour to dispel this impression,''he said.

Speaking on the occasion, noted theatreperson and film actor Tom Alter said the holding of this festival was evidence of the amazing diversity of genres and styles of films being made in India today.

''Today's India is a study in contrasts. One the one hand, we have hardcore commercial films, on the other we have such short films on socially-relevant issues,''he said.

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