The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Youth, confidence, creativity to the fore at `Bridging Cultures'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 24, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Youth, confidence, creativity to the fore at `Bridging Cultures'

Sudhish Kamath

Films on subjects ranging from puppets to female infanticide were screened at the daylong film festival Short films and documentaries were screened at the film festival

CHENNAI: All Antony spent to shoot his moving tale,Sirumalar, was Rs.90. "I just had to buy a Hi-8 tape. I borrowed a friend's camera and did the editing myself on my computer," he said.

Sumitha of Loyola College, a dancer, converted her research work for a college project into Thullal, a well-compiled documentary. Priyadarshini of MOP Vaishnav College made a case for the dying art of pottery while Pratap of New College simply let his visuals speak for Finger's Poem, a film on pottery. Sruthi of MOP Vaishnav, made a film just to tell the world a story about puppets.

These students are among the new breed of young confident filmmakers who premiered their short films and documentaries at `Bridging Cultures,' the daylong film festival organised by the LV Prasad Film and TV Academy. And they were quite candid on screen and off it.

"My plan was far better," Premnath, student of LV Prasad Film and TV Academy, said after his abstract piece, Footpath was screened. "It was not meant to be abstract. Because in the learning process we sometimes plan what is not practical I had no choice but to make it abstract." "It is your perception of reality that defines what is abstract," said Shyam Balasubramanian, who made a Rs. 17,000 film, Momentary Lapse of Reason, getting the original music recorded for his short film.

Technology, a tool

"Given the flexibility of cuts that non-linear editing applications provide, how much can you really plan for the film," asked the Academy's director Hariharan, during a recent interactive session. "I shot it, took it to my editor ... he gave me three options. I selected what worked best for me, then took it to the music director, who then gave me something he thought worked and I just had to make the changes I wanted. Technology just gives you more options," replied Shyam. He had broken a few rules in the process but defends it saying: "Creation does not come out of experience. It comes because of who you are."

M. Venkatesan of LV Prasad Film and TV Academy, who screened his Three feet from the road, says that making the film abstract simplifies the cognition process. Using technology (use of non-linear editing applications) had not changed the way he conceived the film. "Technology is just a tool," he said.

While some used technology to stylise their short films, others used it to represent reality in their documentaries. Like Anita of MOP Vaishnav College, who represented the essence of Chennai in her film, Tamizha Tamizha. Sowmya, Niveditha and Darshini of MOP Vaishnav College made their film, Someone Special, to show methods adopted by different schools to teach special children. Abhilasha of LV Prasad Film and TV Academy made her Kanmani on female infanticide at the middle-class level.

There was foreign participation too. Tatsuyo Ohshima of Brooklyn College, CUNY, said he spent two days with the subjects of his film, The Family, before he started filming. "I went to church with them one day and spent an afternoon having lunch and just regular conversation," he said.

"With technological development there is a wonderful opportunity to convey what you want," Ramesh Prasad, Managing Director of the Prasad Group, said. "You can bring in healthy subjects that will be of great value to the people."

"Documentary cinema has to grow in a huge way because it is the best way to reach out to the world. Documenting reality is very important because the world is going to ask questions. The only way to reach each other is to answer the questions. Films not merely record events but also provide a point of view of the filmmaker," K. Hariharan, Director of LV Prasad Film and TV Academy, said.

Prof. Annette Danto of Brooklyn College, City University of New York, inaugurated the festival earlier in the afternoon, with her team of students from America.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail