what we are reading – EightandHalf
Echoes, the annual cultural festival of IIM Kozhikode, in association with filmmaker Shekhar Kapur had launched a short film making competition titled “I Love Paani”. We had posted about it here.
The filmmaker has picked his Top 3 favourite shorts, and has tweeted the reasons why he liked them. We are embedding the shorts below each tweet.
Gitanjali Rao’s new animation film ‘True Love Story’ bagged the Golden Conch Award for Best Animation Film at the recently concluded Mumbai International Film Festival. This 18 minute animation, set in the streets of Mumbai explores what happens when the ultimate Bollywood fantasy is applied in reality. It gives glimpse into the influence of Bollywood on real life in Mumbai, told through puppet animation.
Here’s the trailer of the film
More about the film from Scroll – It’s a frame by frame painted 19-minute film about love, told from the eyes of two migrants who come to Mumbai and fall in love with each other. The boy in the film is hugely influenced by Bollywood and he falls in love with the girl across the street. Who will teach him how to woo her? This is a boy-meets-girl story, from the perspective of people who find themselves adrift in the big city.
As we have said million times in the past, and still keep repeating ourselves, if you have not seen Rao’s work, you have not seen the best animation that this country has produced. So we are embedding one of her popular animation films here. Do watch.
From her official website –
‘Printed Rainbow’ describes the loneliness of an old woman and her cat, who escape into the fantastical world of match box covers.
Gitanjali painted the entire film frame by frame over three years as a labour of love dedicated to her mother and cat. The film went on to premier in Cannes in 2006 and won her the first set of laurels with three Awards for the Best Short film in Critic’s Week, Cannes 2006. Then followed 22 international awards and screenings in over a hundred international festivals.
– She also did the delicious opening credits of Stanley Ka Dabba. To know more about her work and films, click here.
WHAT : The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has launched a short film contest on the theme of “Young and Aspiring India” under the brand name “CANVAS”.
DURATION : Films of 3-5 minutes duration can be submitted for the competition.
– Brand CANVAS is a platform for creative minds to come together, compete for excellence and showcase their talent in various aspects of creativity including film making, photography, slogan writing, symposium, poster making etc. The first edition of CANVAS is a Short Film Contest which is open to all.
DATES : The registration for the contest opens on 10th Dec, 2013 and deadline for submitting the short film is 31st Dec, 2013. The winners will be announced on 20th January, 2014.
– Videos will be rated on the basis of storytelling, creativity, originality, screenplay, performances and technical execution by an eminent jury selected by the Ministry.
PRIZE MONEY : First three winners will be awarded cash prizes of Rs 30,000, 20,000 and 10,000 respectively. Certificates of appreciation will also be given to selected entries.
RULES & REGULATION – To know more about the rules and regulation, to register and upload videos, click here to go to their official website.
– You can also follow CANVAS on its Facebook page here for regular updates.
– The selected videos will be uploaded on Ministry’s official Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/inbministry.
WHAT – Echoes, the annual cultural festival of IIM Kozhikode in association with filmmaker Shekhar Kapur has launched a short film making competition titled “I Love Paani”. The event has been conceptualized and will be judged by the filmmaker himself.
CONTEST – This is an online event. Teams of 3 or less will have to create a one minute video on the creative brief given below and then either mail the video or its dropbox link to culcom@iimk.ac.in before 23.59.59 PM, 24th December, 2013. Shekhar Kapur will be judging the entries and will decide on the winners for the event.
Shekhar Kapur’s Creative Brief
From a Drop to an Ocean
What does water mean to you?
And how do you imagine a world which is fast running out of water. Can you put that in a film no longer than one minute? You could shoot and edit it in any way you like. You could shoot it on your smart phone if you like.
This is about your imagination, not your resources. It does not have to be about a large scale event, a drop is as vast as an ocean. It does not have to be the future. There is enough evidence of massive shortages right now. It can be as observational as you want it to be. Or it can be as dramatic as you want it to be.
But even if you say very little, others have to see your point, your story. Of water.
Want to try?
LAST DATE : Before 23.59.59 PM, 24th December, 2013
GUIDELINES
– This event is open to all.
– A team can have a maximum of 3 members.
– Each team must register for the event at http://tinyurl.com/ILovePaani
– One person cannot be part of more than one team.
– The video length is 1 minute. Not more, not less!
– This slide must be included at the end of the movie.
– There is no bar on the language used in the movie. However, Hindi/English subtitles should be used in case of languages other than these two.
– Entries (video files or dropbox link) should be mailed before the final deadline of 23.59.59 PM, 24th December, 2013 to culcom@iimk.ac.in.
– Naming convention of the deliverable file should be Paani_<Team_Name>_<Movie_Title>
– The subject of the mail should be of the format Paani_<Team_Name>_<Movie_Title>
– The mail should also contain the following details of the team members:
Name
Email Address
Contact Number
PRIZES
First prize : INR 7500
Second prize : INR 5000
Third prize : INR 2500
Winners also get a chance to meet Shekhar Kapur in person.
Terms & Conditions
– Shekhar Kapur, “I Love Paani” and/or their associates, reserve the right to use and upload all the short film/s in a manner they deem fit on their own or their affiliates websites/platforms for various purposes and the contestants shall not have any claim or objection whatsoever regarding the same.
– Shekhar Kapur will be meeting the winners in Mumbai on a date and time convenient to him. All costs (Travel & Lodging) has to be borne by the winners. Reimbursements from our side will be restricted to INR 2500 only.
mFC Editorial – If you want to get into filmmaking and wondering where to start, here’s a great opportunity. None other than Shekhar Kapur will see your work, and am sure if you can impress him, few more things can come out of it. Generally that’s how it works. So do give it a shot. All the best.
Though we would also like to point out the weird clause put up by the organisers in their “Terms and Condition” section. It’s fine to upload it on various platforms but it’s unfair to use it for commercial purpose without the filmmaker gaining anything out of it. Hope they change it.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 live action short films will advance in the voting process for the 86th Academy Awards. 120 films had qualified in the category.
And Shubhashish Bhutiani’s short film Kush is in the shortlist.
Synopsis
Inspired by a true story, Kush takes place in 1984, surrounding Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Anti-Sikh riots erupt throughout the country. A teacher traveling back from a field trip with her class of 10-year-old students now struggles to protect Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, from the growing violence around him.
Trailer
– Film’s FB page is here.
– To know more about the filmmaker and its making, you can read the director’s interview here.
– The Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting. Now the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will select 3-5 nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist.
– The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 16, 2014.
– Here’s the complete list of Top 10 shortlisted film (in alphabetical order)
– “Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me),” Esteban Crespo, director (Producciones Africanauan)
– “Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything),” Xavier Legrand, director, and Alexandre Gavras, producer (KG Productions)
– “Dva (Two),” Mickey Nedimovic, director, and Henner Besuch, director of photography (Filoufilm Dani Barsch)
– “Helium,” Anders Walter, director, and Kim Magnusson, producer (M & M Productions)
– “Kush,” Shubhashish Bhutiani, director (Red Carpet Moving Pictures)
– “Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?),” Selma Vilhunen, director, and Kirsikka Saari, screenwriter (Tuffi Films)
– “Record/Play,” Jesse Atlas, director, and Thom Fennessey, executive producer (Collaboration Factory)
– “Throat Song,” Miranda de Pencier, director (Northwood Productions)
– “Tiger Boy,” Gabriele Mainetti, director (Goon Films)
– “The Voorman Problem,” Mark Gill, director, and Baldwin Li, producer (Honlodge Productions)
Since we are tracking and talking Leos Carax these days as he is currently in Mumbai for the Film Festival, here’s short film of his if you haven’t seen.
Synopsis : Léos Carax’s 42 second short piece for the collective film OneDreamRush, a tale of voyeurism about man and his neighbor: a sensual and mysterious blind woman – Mubi.
Tip – Kabir Chowdhry
Shorts, an anthology of five short films was released in the theatres few months back. Now the entire film is online. The five film in the order in which they appear are as follows
1. SUJATA is by Shlok Sharma and stars Huma Qureshi, Shweta Tripathi, Satya Anand (JP Singh of GoW) and Aditya Kumar.
2. EPILOGUE (from 20:33) is by Siddharth Gupt and stars Richa Chaddha and Arjun Shrivastav.
3. AUDACITY (from 35:00) by Anirban Roy starring Preeti Singh, Sankar Debnath and Kanchan Mullick.
4. MEHFUZ (from 48:30) by Rohit Pandey has Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Aditi Khanna in the lead.
5. SHOR (from 01:04:00) is by Neeraj Ghaywan and stars Vineet Singh and Ratnabali Bhattacharjee.
And do VOTE for your favourite film(s). You can vote for maximum 3 films.
If you want to read about the films before watching, go on.
1. SUJATA – Sujata is a riveting tale of a young girl, who is struggling to come out of the clutches of her tormenting cousin brother. At a very young age, she is forced to live with her cousin and his family. Herein, begins a life of incessant harassment by her cousin brother. Even as an adult she lives in the shadow of fear. For years, she changes addresses and identities in the hope of finding freedom; but each time he hunts her down. Neither the police, nor the NGOs are able to help her. Pushed to a corner, she decides to take the extreme step.
2. EPILOGUE – A relationship that has already fallen apart and is just about to snap. It describes the love and intimacy, the entangling of two lives and the completely symbiotic nature of a couple. It reflects the possessiveness control isolation, depression and desperation that a relationship can lead to, representing a cycle that needs to be broken in order to keep sane.
3. AUDACITY – A thirteen-year-old girl has her first real confrontation with authority when her father forbids her to play the American dance music she loves. When she decides to take revenge, the situation escalates to become a neighbourhood scandal. A dark comedy about parental authority, teenage rebellion, curry, whiskey, and house music.
4. MEHFUZ – In an ambiguous space and time. The city has turned mad, as violence has taken its toll. But, far away in the sounds of silence at the border of the town, a man takes care of all the death around. He drags away this usual routine with every passing night. One night, he notices a strange woman wandering on empty streets. As her behavior changes, so does his journey.
5. SHOR – Lallan and Meena, a couple from Banaras, are consumed by their pursuit to survive in the city of Mumbai. Meena takes up a job in a sewing factory. One day over a phone call, they find each other while embracing death, divorce and redemption. It takes the darkest hour of our life, the fear of death, to regain our consciousness back in to life. To find the beauty that is lost in our relentless angst towards an unyielding life.
Watch it.
It will just take 17 minutes.
If you want to know more about it before clicking the play button, here’s the official synopsis –
In a story that plays out entirely on a teenager’s computer screen, Noah follows its eponymous protagonist as his relationship takes a rapid turn for the worse in this fascinating study of behaviour (and romance) in the digital age.
It’s directed by Canadian film students Walter Woodman and Patrick Cederberg.
The film was screened at TIFF recently.
To know more about the filmmakers and the film, click here.
Tip – Jahan Bakshi
The 70th Venice Film Festival has just concluded and the winners have been announced.
And here’s the good news – Indian filmmaker Shubhashish Bhutiani’s film Kush has won the Orizzonti Award For The Best Short film. This was the only desi entry at this edition of Venice fest.
Orizzonti section puts the spotlight on new trends in cinema. This year 31 films from all over the world were selected in this competitive section. The Orizzonti Jury was chaired by Paul Schrader and composed of Catherine Corsini, Leonardo Di Costanzo, Golshifteh Farahani, Frédéric Fonteyne, Kseniya Rappoport and Amr Waked. after screening the 31 films in competition has decided to award:
Synopsis
Inspired by a true story, Kush takes place in 1984, surrounding Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Anti-Sikh riots erupt throughout the country. A teacher traveling back from a field trip with her class of 10-year-old students now struggles to protect Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, from the growing violence around him.
Trailer
– Film’s FB page is here.
– To know more about the filmmaker and its making, you can read the director’s interview here.
Photo courtesy – Kush Twitter feed
A short film called Double Shift by Amit Roy and Swati Bhattacharya.
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 