The Hindu : New Delhi News : Young filmmakers showcase talent

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 18, 2007
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New Delhi

Young filmmakers showcase talent

Madhur Tankha

New Delhi: Film festivals focusing on commercial Bollywood films have always attracted cinemagoers in droves. Now new initiatives to exhibit small, meaningful and non-commercial cinema are also drawing a favourable response from film buffs.

This was clearly evident at the second edition of Cinemela, a four-day festival of short films and documentaries by young filmmakers that ended at Jawaharlal Nehru University here over the weekend.

Organised by the Cinemela Collectives and JNU Students' Union of School of Arts and Aesthetics in collaboration with Max Mueller Bhavan, Cinemela's significance can be gauged from the fact that the Limca Book of World Records recognised its first edition last year for its uniqueness and participation.

To underscore its range and plurality, two films from two distinct worlds and realities were screened on the opening day. "Gadi Lohardaga Mail" was a visual documentation of a historic train in Jharkhand, while Ester Amrami's "Berlin Diary" captured the life of a young Israeli woman in Berlin.

Speaking at the inauguration, renowned cinema expert Aruna Vasudev appreciated Cinemela for the opportunity it gave young filmmakers to showcase their talent.

Max Mueller Bhavan Programmes Director Katja Kessing recounted the historic relationship of Max Mueller Bhavan with Indian arts, cultures and cinema: "This year a series of prize-winning short films by young filmmakers were the special attraction. These films from Belarus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the United States were screened as a gesture of reconciliation between nations and people affected by World War II."

Stating that Cinemela intends to take films created by young artists to Generation X, Cinemela Convenor Prakash Kumar Ray notes that the festival this year had made concrete efforts to create space for the new creative voices from across the world that is denied by the crude logic of media industry. "We believe that these films deserved attention for their ability to go beyond local issues while simultaneously opening up a window on to a diverse culture."

Besides there were a number of films from Indian filmmakers covering diverse issues, regions and languages. Like `Bilori' by Sandeip Modi in Marathi, `Poorvragh' by Surendra Kumar in Hindi, or `Dim' by Anil Sadarangani in English, `The Quest' by Khanjan Nath in Assamese, or `Nemesis of Motherhood' by Snehasis Das in Oriya. `Dim', interestingly as short as three and a half minutes, was about two women from a minority community discussing the housing problem in Mumbai.

As a special entry, the festival also screened a rare collection of best first films from the Film and Television Institute of India. It included passing-out films by noted film personalities like Satish Shah and Vidhu Vinod Chopra with actors like Jaya Bachchan, Smita Patil and Suresh Oberoi acting in them during their student days.

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