'Shortcuts' mini film festival
Its all happening here in Hyderabad. When people just started to feel elated that one is finally getting to watch some interesting cinema(2005 has been really eventful with Black, Page 3, Iqbal, Hazaaron Khwahishen Aise, Parineeta and a lot of others), more joy is in store for film buffs in the form of some of the best short films and documentaries. All this was made possible by a bunch of passionate film lovers from the organisation called 'Short Cuts' which organises a monthly film festival of short films, many of which have won national and international film awards. Every month they also showcase the local talent by screening atleast one film made by a Hyderabadi film-maker. Do have a look at their web site for more information about what films they have screened so far.
Let me point out my favourites from the last two film festivals that i got to attend. “Me, Meera” by Subhakar was the best out of all. It was also the longest at 53 mins. It impressed me at various levels 1) it covered all the famous places from Hyderabad including best irani hotels, book sellers and pirated hollywood vcd shops, 2) it had a good dose of quotes. one was attributed to churchill "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.", which other sources attribute to Ralph Waldo Emerson. And another killer ad: "Smoking cures Cancer" 3) It has lots of humour, which was never loud 4) It touched a chord or two philosophically too, which is unlikely with someone who has a very distinct take on philosophy regarding everything. It also got a stylish treatment to the whole film, and you gotta love the art work in the starting titles!! if only i had a copy of it on my disk - i would have shown it to everyone who came my way.
The other film i liked is "Girni" by Umesh Kulkarni. It was born from an idea - to enter into the mind of the child and see from his eyes the imapact of noise (that of a 'girni', flour mill) and the best compliment one could give it is that the execution has been perfect. You feel right inside the innocent mind of the child right through the film and that itself is a huge achievement. The film won "Best Film", "Best Director" and "Best Cinematography" national awards (short film category) is no surprise to me at all.
More film talk after the next film festival - sometime around 15th of november.
Let me point out my favourites from the last two film festivals that i got to attend. “Me, Meera” by Subhakar was the best out of all. It was also the longest at 53 mins. It impressed me at various levels 1) it covered all the famous places from Hyderabad including best irani hotels, book sellers and pirated hollywood vcd shops, 2) it had a good dose of quotes. one was attributed to churchill "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.", which other sources attribute to Ralph Waldo Emerson. And another killer ad: "Smoking cures Cancer" 3) It has lots of humour, which was never loud 4) It touched a chord or two philosophically too, which is unlikely with someone who has a very distinct take on philosophy regarding everything. It also got a stylish treatment to the whole film, and you gotta love the art work in the starting titles!! if only i had a copy of it on my disk - i would have shown it to everyone who came my way.
The other film i liked is "Girni" by Umesh Kulkarni. It was born from an idea - to enter into the mind of the child and see from his eyes the imapact of noise (that of a 'girni', flour mill) and the best compliment one could give it is that the execution has been perfect. You feel right inside the innocent mind of the child right through the film and that itself is a huge achievement. The film won "Best Film", "Best Director" and "Best Cinematography" national awards (short film category) is no surprise to me at all.
More film talk after the next film festival - sometime around 15th of november.
posted by sami at 10/23/2005 08:47:00 PM
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