FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Short films are a challenge to create a focused piece of storytelling at a significantly lower cost than a full-length feature film. Though this medium is an effective means of getting poignant ideas and messages across through creative media, it is still catching up with the audience in Goa. This week, two venues, Charles Correa Foundation, Fontainhas, Panjim and Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts, Altinho, Panjim, will screen short films on February 2 and February 3 to 5, respectively. The good news is that there will be a total of 16 short films to be viewed. Last Sunday, January 29, Panjimbased Ganga Zuari Academy organised its program, ‘Heritage is our Soul’ at ESG’s Maquinez Palace auditorium, Panjim in which short documentaries from students and professionals were screened. A total of 21 documentaries depicting various architectural heritages, rituals, as well as dying art forms were screened. The competition for the short film was judged on concept, research, photography, editing, direction and perspective. The documentary on the ‘Kaavi art form’ by students of Third Year BA Mass Communication from St Xavier’s College, Mapusa won the first prize. The students include Nathan D’Lima, Khushi Naik, Sanidhya Korgaonkar, Tanmai Pangam, Surbhi Khandeparkar and Karah Fernandes. ‘Render: the dying Occupation’ directed by Kabir Naik, depicting the sorry state of coconut pluckers won the second prize. The third prize was won by Prasad Deshpande and Sangam Patil of Goa Bylanes for their documentary, ‘Chitari- A tribute to the late Gopal Chitari’. Amita Sharma and Rumi Roy-Choudhury conducted the program. ‘A Portrait of a Collector’ by Victor Hugo Gomes was also screened for the first time in Goa, though it has won several international awards. “The documentary was created to bring about awareness about this dying art which is one of the oldest art forms in Goa. We spoke to many resource persons who threw light on Kaavi art including historians like Rajendra Kerkar, Prajal Sakhardande, Heta Pandit, Sanjeev Sardessai and Sawani Shetye. We also interviewed artists like Sagar Naik Mule, Janardhan Rao and Shubhada Chari who added value to the documentary about the art form. We are trained to work on short films through our syllabus in college and this documentary put that knowledge into practical use. We worked on the short film for two months and we hope to release a 30 minutes film shortly if we get a good screening venue,” says Nathan from Panjim. On February 2, Charles Correa Foundation will have a packed schedule as ten short films will be screened back to back from 5.30 pm at the centre in Panjim. The Nagari Short Film Competition is an annual competition designed to guide and develop films that focus on urban issues, specific to Indian cities. On this evening, the winning documentaries of three editions will be screened ‘State of Housing’ in 2020, ‘Challenges of Livelihood’ in 2021 and ‘How stories in urban India are tied to water’ in 2022. The films include ‘A City Within a City’ directed by Prachee Bajania and Narendra Mangwani, ‘Udta Banaras’ directed by Apoorva Jaiswal and Manas Krishna, ‘Beyond Four Walls’ directed by Ritika Banerjee, Aila Bandagi and Bimal Thankachan, ‘Taal Betaal’ directed by Sanchay Bose, Pramathyu Shukla, Shubham Sengupta and Rudraksh Pathak, ‘Golden Fish’ directed by Akanksha Gupta, Avadhoot Potdar, Akshata Dalvi, ‘The Present is Ours’ directed by Bhawna Jaimini, Moin Khan, ‘All day and all of the night’ directed by Priya Naresh, Palak Patel, Aniket Kolarkar, ‘Remember Silsako’ directed by Maharshi Kashyap, Susmita Talukdar, Zeba Zoariah Ahsan, Biswajit Das, Dhruba Hazarika and Koushik Tamilmaran, ‘Pipe Dream’ directed by Suraj Katra, Jai Mati, Prachi Adesara and Sitaram Shelar and ‘The Chaviwallahs of Mumbai’ directed by Akanksha Gupta and Gopal MS. The screenings will be followed by a panel discussion with filmmakers, Anjali Monteiro and KP Jayasankar, retired professors from the School of Media and Cultural Studies, at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. The second edition of ‘Goa in Film’, a three-day festival organised by Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts, Altinho, Panjim will be held from February 3 to 5 from 6.45 pm onwards with six selected film which will be presented by the directors. On the opening day of the festival, ‘The First Wedding’ directed by Akshay Parvatkar and ‘Bread and Belonging’ directed by Sonia Filinto will be screened. “There has not been a better time for the Konkani film industry, with so many new voices making films about unique subjects. Always excited to see what other Goan filmmakers are up to and very hopeful and excited to see where we go from here,” says Akshay Parvatkar. ‘Bread and Belonging’ portrays three stories unfold around pão, Goa’s unique bread. Stories of people dealing with migration, changing culture and the ever present need to earn a living. Sonia Filinto says, “I’m glad for the opportunity to screen my film. I’m equally happy to watch all the films being showcased. I do hope there are many more such screenings across the state so ‘Goa in Film’ is accessible to everyone. Let’s boost the filmmaking and film watching community in Goa.” On February 4, ‘Ram’ directed by Miransha Naik and ‘Bare’ directed by Ronak Kamat will be screened. Miransha Naik says, “We made the film in 2014 and it was this short that gave us the confidence to make the features. I am looking forward to see the response after all these years.” Ronak Kamat is a writer and director known for his documentaries, short films and writing work for OTT platforms. ‘Bare’ premiered at the Lift Off Film Festival in Toronto, in 2021, and has won four awards in India while also receiving an Honourable Mention at the Eastern Europe Film Festival, in Romania, in December 2022. “Bare spent about a year and a half in the film festival circuit earning us recognition that was both, encouraging and motivating. I am certainly excited by the fact that a Goan Audience will be watching it for the first time,” says Ronak. On the concluding day, February 5, ‘Written in the Corners’ directed by Suyash Kamat and ‘The Club’ directed by Nalini Elvino De Sousa will be screened. “It was shot with the intention of purely remembering something is probably not worthy of being an important memory. The film is partly constructed from an interview that was shot a decade before my documentary was made and the value it acquires when re-contextualised is the very nature of memory and remembrance I’m trying to deal with,” says Suyash Kamat. “The Club brings to the fore the collective memory of the Goan community born in Tanzania. I hope to meet amongst the audience Goans who have lived there and can share their memories with us,” says Nalini Elvino De Sousa, director of ‘The Club’. Post-screening discussions will be moderated by journalist Frederick Noronha focusing on the present of the Konkani film industry and its future. While it is always encouraging to be optimistic but these short films have been created over the years and are finally getting a screening for the Goan audience. After travelling for various film festivals, this will feel like a homecoming for many Goan filmmakers.
