Young guns roll out reels

19 docus, short films by students to be screened at two-day film fest.

Get set to watch the works of some of the promising young filmmakers in a two-day film festival starting Friday.

Vikalp: Films for Freedom will screen 19 documentaries and short fiction films made by students of National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, Srishti School of Design, Bangalore, Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata, and SCM Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai.

The screenings will kick off with Kinjal, a "personal interaction" with a girl who works in an incense stick factory. Director Vaani Arora of NID says, "The protagonist lives in a slum. Her parents want her married off, but she is ready to fight against all odds."

In Girni, directed by Umesh Kulkarni of FTII, a boy's mother installs a flour mill in their tenement house. Soon, the exciting turns into the mundane and then there is only the monster mill's continuous whirring noise. Girni won the Best Non-Feature Film, Best Director and the Best Cinematographer awards at the National Awards 2004. It has won many international awards as well.

Here Is My Nocturne by Anirban Dutta and Chung Pao Chinese Chilly Sauce by Cyrus Khambata—both from SRFTI—are reminiscent of the old-world charm that Kolkata exudes. Here Is My Nocturne offers a glimpse into the Kolkata night life. In Chung Pao Chinese Chilly Sauce we get a taste of Tangra, popularly known as the China Town of Kolkata. It's the story of how Chung Pao, a character in the film, manages to control her raging fury and put it all in a bottle. Of the spiciest chilly sauce ever made.

In Is Mod Pe Kuch Nahin Hota, directed by Hitesh Kewalya of NID, Uday, the protagonist, runs to catch the bus that he misses every day. He is the subject of a reality TV show. The whole nation has advice for him. Does he manage to catch the bus finally? The film won the Best Fiction Film (Up to 75 Mins/National Competition) Award at MIFF 2006.

In Yeh Dil, a singer finds that every time he utters the word 'dil' there is only a beep sound instead. How can he make it big in the film industry where every single song contains the word? This 11-minute film has been directed by Adityan M of NID. "During my college days I and my classmates used to discuss a lot about the usage of words like dil and deewana. That's when this idea came up," says Adityan.

Bhugol explores the conflict between identities. The film, directed by Chaitanya Modak of NID, says the world is flat like a pancake. "My film is about belief that a person may have. Even though situations may change, that person sticks to that belief," Modak says.

There are three films by students of SCM Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai. Rooted In Hope looks at the mentally challenged adults of Anchorage, Lifting The Green Curtain is a documentary on madrasaas and Unheard Voices deals with lesbianism. Students of Srishti School of Design, Bangalore, will present six films—Hua Noor, 23/300, Zulmat, Neerinakallu, Circus Story and Dakini.

"Films made by our students have participated in major festivals. The ideas are entirely the students," says Michael Joseph, head of department, Srishti School of Design. The other films in festival are Selected Fiction by the students of SRFTI, and The Riddle Of Auto Shankar and Ksha Tra Gya by FTII students.

This is the first time that Vikalp is organising a two-day festival of films made by students. "This year the response has been really good. We would like to screen as many films made by students as possible," says Ajay Noronha, a member of the Vikalp collective.

The films will be screened on June 9 and 10 from 6.30pm onwards at Bhupesh Gupta Bhavan, Prabhadevi.