Paid Proposition

Screenings are held in one of the three mini-screening rooms with an audience of five to six professional filmmakers. The perks: hobnobbing with the cream of the international film fraternity,and a listing of your film on the Digital Film Library of the Festival. Held annually since 2004,this section serves as a platform for short film professionals to network and ‘develop their career’,according to Alice Kharoubi,project manager. “We have over 1,700 registered entries this year,with 25 films from India alone,” says Kharoubi.

For 28-year-old Delhiite,Abhishek Joshi,Cannes was the perfect avenue for his two-minute and two-second long Crowded Lives,an abstract depiction of how an individual reacts to crowded situations. “When I finished the film,the Cannes Festival was near. Since I had nothing to lose I registered my film and fortunately it got selected,” says Joshi,who quit his job with a software solutions firm to take up filmmaking. While Joshi might be an amateur,Nagaland filmmaker Vikeyeno Zao has over 15 documentaries to her credit. Her entry,the 15-minute Last of the Tattooed Headhunters,captures the traditions of the remaining handful of Konyak head-hunters of Nagaland. “It took me two years to convince the tribesmen to participate in the film. I overcame resistance from the Church for this film,” says Zao,hoping the Festival finds her international buyers. Even Rima Amarapurkar’s award winning short,Jananee,which was awarded at last year’s IFFI,Goa will be at the Festival. It is an important achievement,says Amarapurkar,“since this is the mecca of cinema. I want to reach out to the market through this.”

The films in this section cover a wide range of topics and are selected after an initial screening process. But in case of Bell Bajao,the one-minute ad commercial about preventing domestic violence,the producer Sonali Khan,of Breakthrough Productions,was given a direct passport to the Festival. “This campaign received special mention at the ‘Speak Out’ category of the Expresion Corto International Film Festival,Mexico,last year. Since they are part sponsors of the Short Film Corner we were given a direct entry into the festival,” says Khan.

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