Screen, the Indian Express Group?s weekly entertainment portal has tied up with Nautanki.tv, 48 Hour Film Project and http://www.1takemedia.com as the media partner for innovative talent hunt competitions based on short films. The three competitions? webtalkies ?09, 48 hour film project in Mumbai, and a 3-minute film making competition on http://www.1takemedia.com? is an initiative to bring forward new talents and encourage the already existing talent in the film industry.
Webtalkies ?09 is an online short film festival which took off on September 1, 2009 on Mirch Masala, a channel owned by Nautanki.tv, while the 48 Hour Film Project is a 48 hour film making contest that will kick off in Mumbai on October 2, 2009 and will get over on October 4. Meanwhile, 3-minute film making competition on http://www.1takemedia.com is based on the theme of Advantage India where competitors will have to show the positivity of India in their film.
While the entries for Webtalkies closed on August 15, there entries have come from across the country on various topics such as AIDS, money, suicide, art, poetry, literature and many more. With a time frame of three to fifteen minutes, the subject of the films under this competition includes both fiction and non-fiction, across various genres and languages. Out of the 100 plus entries received for Webtalkies, 26 films have been short listed in terms of concept, originality, storytelling and technical quality. Viewers can also rate, comment and review the films where the best 5 comments/reviews will win tickets to the Webtalkies screening at Inox theatre (Mumbai-Nariman Point).
The short listed films will be screened on Nautanki.tv from September 1- 30, 2009 and will be judged by an eminent panel of judges including Amole Gupte (originator, writer and creative director of Taare Zameen Par and actor in Kaminey ), Paromita Vohra (documentary filmmaker and writer of Khamosh Paani), film editor- Niraj Voralia and Mahesh Aney, who won the National Film Award for cinematography for Swades.
The judges will be rating the films on categories like direction, cinematography, editing and sound. The winning films will be announced and screened at Inox theatre (Mumbai-Nariman Point) and the various filmmakers will get an opportunity to interact with the jury on various aspects of filmmaking.
The winner in the category of Best Short Film will be awarded a cash price of Rs 50,000, Best Editor and Cinematographer will be given Rs 25,000 respectively. In addition, the film that gets the highest number of views on Nautanki.tv will be awarded the Audience Choice Award and a cash prize of Rs 30,000.
Jeroo Sam Patel, COO, Nautanki.tv said, ?Nautanki.tv has been encouraging independent filmmakers since inception via Mirch Masala, which is our in-house channel for independent short films and documentaries. Webtalkies is the first of its kind online film festival and will also have the winning films screened in theatres and other mediums.?
The 48 Hour Film Project is open to professionals, amateurs and students and will kick off in Mumbai on October 2, 2009 and will get over in 48 hours. The main aim of the competition is to encourage the contenders to complete the shooting, editing and complete the making of the film in 48 hours.
On the day of the competition (October 2) the contenders will be getting a character, a prop and dialogues that must be included in making of the film. All the movies under this category will be screened at the British Council Theatre (Mumbai) on Oct 9-10, 2009. To take part in the competition the participating team can register online at http://www.48hourfilm.com/mumbai/ . This is the second 48 Hour Film Project and is supported by the British Council and Screen. http://www.1takemedia.com will be launching the 2nd Advantage India- The 3 Minute Film Competition in association with Italy?s Largest Indian Film festival, River to River Florence Indian Film Festival. With the theme of Advantage India, the competitors will have to show some positivity of India in their film. The form for this competition can be downloaded from http://www.1takemedia.com.
The jury members include film makers like Aziz Mirza, Prahlad Kakkar, Cyrus Dastur, Uma D?cunha and Selvaggia Velo.