Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, Nov 22: As the world limps cautiously back to normal with a hope of eradicating the COVID 19 virus, the Steel City is gearing up for its annual short film festival ‘SHORTS’ to be held on November 26 and 27 between 6 pm and 7 pm on both days. This will be the 14th annual chapter of the popular short film festival, SHORTS. However, like in 2020, the SHORTS festival this year too will be on virtual mode as the physical mode would be a challenge in futility with the COVID scare lurking around unless viable protection is adhered to. And so, SHORTS – 2021 will also be on virtual mode.
Merlyn Anklesaria, Senior Manager of Tata Steel’s Corporate Communications and Centre for Excellence (CFE) observed, “Intermittent ill tidings amidst the pandemic scenario take their mental toll but It is indeed heartening that The Society for Promotion of Professional Excellence (SPPE) of Jamshedpur and Take 5 Communications of Kolkata have continued unflaggingly with their creative exercise that they had initiated in 2008. Over the years this Short Film Festival has gained in ascending popularity and has till date screened more than three hundred films by both professional and amateur filmmakers, from all over the country and abroad, thereby giving the budding talents a platform to showcase their creative works. Jharkhand has been a focus of this Festival and a large number of budding talents from the State who made their film making debut in this Festival have eventually become regular filmmakers and are working professionally in film industries of significance in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.”
COO of Take5 Communications, Kolkata, Tathagata Bhattacherjee informed, “SHORTS– 2021 would virtually screen twelve films in a span of two days. The films ranging from three minutes to eighteen minutes are in English, Hindi and Bengali languages. Some of these films have been screened at National and International Film Festivals and are all made ‘for a cause’. The themes are on environment, friendship, upbringing, psychological issues and on the lately experienced lockdown crisis. The films are realistic, hard hitting and thought provoking,” and added, “celluloid creations of women filmmakers have been significantly recognized by ‘SHORTS’ and this year’s essay too is no different. We have two films by women directors that would be screened in SHORTS –‘21, one being ’Eco Friendly’ by Mini Pandey and the other, ‘Secret Confessions of Men – Fidelity’ by Veronika Kayal. Both filmmakers have been participants of this Festival in the past too.”
A regular at SHORTS since its inception year, 2008 and an avid movie buff, Srikant Pattanaik said, “This Festival has encouraged student film makers. Several educational institutions from the country including Jamshedpur have been participating in this Festival on a regular basis. That is the fascinating part of this festival. Some of these student filmmakers have gone on to win fame and popularity in the tinsel towns of Mumbai, Kolkata and the southern climes.”
The likes of Srikant Pattanaik will not be disappointed in this year’s SHORTS’ essay. SHORTS — 2021 will feature a student film called ‘The Belt Saga’ by Ananye Goel, a student of Pathways World School, Aravali.
The other films lined up for this year’s edition include, ‘Parvarish’ (by Meet Vasudevan), ‘Mudraa’ (by Abhishek Ganguli), ‘Sveekar’ (by Sayandip Sikder),’ Yaara’ (by Yogendra Sahu), ‘She’ (by Sailen De), ‘The Solace’ (by Tathagata Chowdhury), ‘Lost & Found’ (by Sumanta Ghosh), ‘Tosh’ (by Nikhil Sharda) and ‘Look up at Lockdown’ (by Debajyoti Batabyal).
