THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Claps, the first short film festival organised at the Institute of English of Kerala, was inaugurated by director Shyamaprasad here on Friday.The filmmaker shared his views and observations on short film-making with the budding film makers and students gathered for the fest. He said there is an amateurish touch among young short filmmakers in choosing the plot, narrative techniques and the utilisation of creative tools for filmmaking.“The young crop doesn’t have to face much challenges in technical side with the availability of technologically advanced equipment. Youngsters, who produce excellent literary works to be in par with the works of veteran writers, lack skills when it comes to film-making,” he said.He added that it’s time to check the quality of content in short films while the production volume is on a rise. He also suggested that the youngsters should consider film watching a serious affair.Sajitha Madathil, in her keynote address underscored the need for the participation of women short film-makers in the industry. Comparing the statistics of the participation of women in the previous two editions of International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, she said that a majority of female participants in both festivals had an upbringing outside Kerala. She stressed on the need for more women from Kerala to come up for such events.After the inaugural session, there was the screening of seven internationally acclaimed short films. French films including Jean Painleve’s ‘Acera’(1972), ‘Night and Fog’(1955) directed by Alain Resnias, the science fiction ‘La Jetee’1962) directed by Chris Markers, Balint Kenyeres’ ‘Before Dawn’(2005), ‘Run Wrake’s ‘Rabbit’(2007), ‘Meshes of the Afternoon’(1943) by Maya Deren and Toby Mcdonald’s ‘Je T’aime John Wayne’ (2001)were also screened in this category. This was followed by a talk by Meena T Pillai on the topic ‘Malayalam Cinema: On Scripting the Malayali’.The institute package comprising two films made by the students of the institute were showcased. ‘Ke Sera Sera’ the 26-minute short-film in 2006 directed by the then M.Phil students Aromal T and Arunkumar K V was one among them. The plot is centred around the diary notes of a girl. ‘Thoottal’, directed by Pramod, an MA English student, is an eight-minute film produced in 2011. The narrative is devised as in a problem play. The Institute has a vibrant film club ‘Institute Talkies’ functioning from 2006 onwards under the aegis of which the film festival is being organised. The films selected from various campuses for the competition category are to be screened on Saturday. Film director T V Chandran will give away the prizes. There will be a talk by film-critic V Rajakrishnan and the screening of the award winning social documentary ‘A Pestering Journey’ directed by K R Manoj on the same day.
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