Short films drawing from slice of life showcased at filmfest

New Delhi, Jan 9: The week gone by saw the capital play host to a film festival of a different kind! Short films drawing from a slice of life in Indian society as well as those exploring varied aspects of the human nature and psyche were in focus at 'Twilight', a festival of short films - the first of its kind in India - in the Capital.

Screened at the three-day film festival, which came to a close on Friday with the screening of 'Printed Rainbow', a 15-minute animation film telling the story of an old woman staying alone with a cat for company, were a host of cinematic ventures in the short film genre from Sudipto Sen's 'Akhnoor' (which opened the film festival), to Bejoy Nambiar's 'Reflections' (starring Mohan Lal and Juhi Babbar) to 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.

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, 'Twilight - 2007', organised by the Shri Aurobindo Institute of Mass Communication, had established filmmakers sharing screen space with students of filmmaking from various institutes such as L V Prasad Film and Television Academy, Chennai; Loyola Academy, Hyderabad; Manipal Institute of Communication, Manipal; Jadavpur University, Kolkata; FTII, Pune; Wigan And Leigh College, Delhi; Zee Institute of Media Arts, Mumbai; NID, Ahmedabad; SAE Technology College, Delhi; University of Delhi and AAFT, Noida.

A total of 50 short films were screened at two venues-the India International Centre and Alliance Francaise.

Students from all over India had entered nearly 80 films for the competitive section from various institutes. Out of these, 24 films were short listed by a selection committee made up of ex film students and young filmmakers.

A panel of jury chaired by eminent film jurist K Bikram Singh and comprising of Deepa Gahlot (film critic), Kunal Jhaveri (Co-founder of Short Circuit), Siddhrath Srinivasan (filmmaker) and K Karthikeyan (Camera man and famous International Line Producer) judged the films in the competitive section for eight categories - the best direction (fiction/documentary), script (documentary), screenplay (fiction), animation film, cinematography/videography, audiography, editing and mobile films.

While Aloke Shetty's documentary 'Road to America' won the awards for Best Direction and Best Script, Harsha Nagaraju of the National Institute of Design at Ahmedabad won the Best Animation Award for her film 'Fly by Red Shoes' at the festival.

The winners recieved a cash award and a specially designed trophy.

As part of the initiative, 'Twilight' had organised buyers of films who will offer distribution rights for films of merit.

According to festival coordinator Shankhajeet De, who is also a filmmaking teacher at the Sri Aurobindo Institute of Mass Communication, '''Twilight' is not just about screening of films. It is about a concerted effort to provide an impetus to the budding short film industry in India and to encourage young talent. It is primarily aimed at students and young filmmakers.'' ''Our endeavour is to encourage young talent by providing a platform for budding film makers and the students of filmmaking from all over India to showcase their creativity and tell a story say in 30 minutes, not necessarily following the format of a two and a half hours of the run on the mill Bollywood fare. The basic idea of the short films is to experiment with a little money and get recognised,'' he said.

UNI