Suchitra Short Fiction Film Festival - An Experience | The Eyes Read It

‘Suchitra Short Fiction Film Festival’ or ‘S2F3’ as they call it, has been one of the best things to have happened to me in the past some time. Not very famous yet, but a very good film festival for short films. In all, competitive and non-competitive segments, 28 were selected were screened. One out of those lucky 28 being our short film Itaanu Uttaram, I got a chance to be a part of the event organized by a film society contributing for over four decades.

Spread over 2 days, the fest gave me a chance to meet many enthusiastic people from different professional backgrounds, to understand their understanding of the art, to see their piece of work, to have a discussion with them, to have a discussion on our work with industry experts like Mr. Prakash Belawadi, a well-known theatre & film personality, to feel good about seeing your work being screened on a big screen and seeing people enjoy it.

Day 1 was hectic but very eventful. Watching so many short films in a day was an experience like nothing else. We saw all, the good the bad and the ugly, but every short had something to teach. We travelled from Bangalore to Kerala, we witnessed road accidents and love accidents, the love of a man for a tree, the respect of a man for his leader, the superstitions people believe in, the law that they don’t believe in and much more, all through those films.

Day 2, discussion on the films screened, which I, with a prejudiced mind, anticipated to be a boring event eventually turned out to be an experience worthier than the screening itself. We got to learn some of the nuances of filmmaking and acting as well, the technicalities which can be or should be used and which are actually used. How to create the desired effect by the use of space and sequence and how it is all about creating an illusion for the audience.

All in all, it was a memorable event and a wonderful experience. To the readers I would suggest keep making films, send them to festivals and if you get chance please attend them to learn more because as Mr. Prakash said ‘Films is not a basic necessity for people, they won’t give a damn if we stop making films. It’s our passion and hence our responsibility to master the art and make better films every next time.’

Written By: Gaurav Karmakar