Short films growing in stature in India
Increasing accessibility and affordability of new media has escalated the production of short films and documentaries. Filmmakers from around the globe are using the medium as an effective tool to express, experiment and learn.
Considered as one of the most honest forms of film making, short films act as a powerful medium to tell a story that leaves an impact. Short films are used to raise questions and consider ideals on social issues and may come across as minor in terms of scale, but are enormous on ideas.
New media and film festivals are pushing the boundaries of short films around the world. Internet has provided filmmakers with a platform to challenge the creative shortcomings of Bollywood and Hollywood movies. The world wide web has allowed people to create and distribute work and has helped filmmakers to reach out to viewers around the world with an unparalleled ease. Because of this, short films are becoming a dynamic medium in a blockbuster-driven industry.
Short films don’t generally draw a large audience and are not the type of content that would often pop up in newsfeed. They can be difficult to find unless you go looking for them, either at film festivals or online. There is no established showcase for short films and many good short films don’t get the attention they deserve. But, the medium of internet seems to have changed the trend.
“Reach is the problem for these kinds of films but mediums like YouTube and Facebook help these films reach out to the people. If any short film gets viral and gets good hits, then those films get good returns,” said Shrivas Nydu, a short film festival director from Rajasthan.
Diverse film festivals around the globe intend to mirror the exploding nature of internet in its many facets of creativity and vision. Short films and documentaries have a well-established presence at festivals and the numbers of short film specific festivals are increasing with time. Film Festivals today showcase a renewed commitment to these types of films.
International Festival of Short Films on Culture and Tourism (IFFC), Pune International Film Festival (PIFF), Goa Short Film Festival (GSFF), Jio Filmfare Short Film Awards and many others are amongst the festivals that are unique in themselves as they bring together film professionals and audiences to participate in an event that spur discussions and thoughts, while covering a vast range of filmmakers from around the world showcasing their films and trying to promote them internationally.
A step ahead
Overlooked for decades due to the fame of the feature films, short films are now becoming a new cool way to inform, spread a message and entertain people.
Many famous Bollywood directors are choosing the passage of short films, keeping it short and sweet. From the Bengali film director Sujoy Ghosh, whose short film ‘Ahalya’ was appreciated by everyone to the well-known Bollywood directors like Anurag Kashyap and Farhan Akhtar, people are increasingly switching to short films to spread their messages.
Sujoy Ghosh’s thriller ‘Ahalya’
‘Kriti’ by Shirish Kunder
Kamera – the Oscars Award winning short film
‘Positive’ by Farhan Akhtar
EL’AYICHI by Terribly Tiny Talkies
Whether through satire, humour, hard-hitting truth or daring experimentation, these films not only prove that the medium is alive and well but also are increasingly shaping the future of the art form.
Acknowledgement by the audience, exposure, awards and association, festivals and new media are here to stay, and they are welcoming short film making more than ever.