When working on the short film ‘Ram’, the team of the
film where hoping to make a good quality short film to be
shown to investors in order to get their support in making
a feature length film. What they didn’t expect was for the
film to receive so much attention and appreciation that,
just within a span of four months, it has been to numerous
festivals around the world and will be screened at the
Cannes International Film Festival on May 15, 2015.
With an all Goan cast and crew, the 25-minute film
has been written and directed by an alumnus of Whistling
Woods International Film School, Miransha Naik, and
produced by Sidharth Yaji under Thin Air Productions
with Executive Producer Vinit Chandrasekharan. The
story of the film revolves around a 14-year-old and his
struggles in his adolescence. “‘Ram’ is about the problems
youngsters face in their adolescent life and how, with the
right guidance, they can go on the right way, but being
vulnerable at that point, they can also head in the wrong
direction. The dialogues were written to suit the story,”
says Sidharth, who earlier worked with the same cast and
crew for their first short film ‘Xezari’.
The film, starring Rishikesh Naik, Pranav Narote,
Sidharth Yaji and Saiesh Palondikar, won Best Film and
Best Director at the Pune Short Film Festival 2014,
Best Short Film at the 9180 Short Film Festival 2014
at Bangalore and Best Short Film at Panchajanyam
International Film Festival, Kerala. Besides India,
the film has also been screened at the London
International Filmmaker’s Festival of World Cinema
where it received four nominations for Best Film, Best
Director, Best Actor and Best Producer. Following
Cannes, the film will be screened at the Zanzibar
International Film Festival, in July 2015.
The Rs 15 lakh budget film was shot within five
days in Goa and was later edited in Mumbai. The film
was completed after the International Film Festival of
India was held in Goa and hence missed a screening.
However, their next project, feature length film ‘Juje’
is currently being shot in Chandor and will be ready in
time for the next film festival in Goa. Their upcoming
film stars Rishikesh Naik, Pranav Narote, Sidharth Yaji,
Prashanti Talpankar, Gauri Kamat, Sudesh Bhise and
Saiesh Palondikar.
“‘Ram’ has given us a lot of exposure and has won
various awards. The film will be screened in the Script
Corner category and not in the competition category.
It is a huge honour for the team as we have put our
heart into the project and quality cinema from Goa
is getting a great platform. I am very excited to go to
Cannes,” says Miransha, from Benaulim.
The team was supported by Jocelyn David, an
agent from Chennai who saw the potential of the film
and submitted its entry into various film festivals. “I
knew the criteria involved in submitting the film but
Jocelyn does her job the best. It requires a lot of time
and effort,” adds Miransha.
The criteria for entry into the Cannes International
Film Festival were that the short film duration cannot
be more than half an hour and the non-English films
required subtitles. “One of the most noted film festivals
in the world, the Festival de Cannes stresses on quality
cinema and it is humbling that they appreciate our
work,” says Sidharth, a line producer who worked in
Goa on Bollywood films and even a music video for Yo
Yo Honey Singh.
