Debutant student directors Nefali Sarri and Viktoria Dzurnenkova,part of the International FTII film festival,try to dissect human emotions through their films They come from variable backgrounds and have starkly different personalities. While Nefali Sarri is a Greek film maker,who loves to bring in an architectural edge to her films,Viktoria Dzurnenkova is from the Czech Republic and believes that film making for her is all about being able to connect to the story that she is trying to tell. Both the film makers are in town as a part of the ongoing International Students' Film Festival at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). Take for instance Nefali's film,Meno Scrupoli (A Little Less Hesitation). Dealing with the story of complex human emotions that nearly force a single mother to take up a job as a pornographic actress,the film walks on the fine divide between sense and sensibility. I really do not think my film is about making a moral statement,but it is definitely about decisions that affect people in various stages of their life, she says. Nefalli feels that her film deals with the subject of pornography which is considered taboo in many cultures. Even the lighting,the sounds,and camera tricks like extreme close-ups and hand held cameras are reminiscent of the ones used in pornographic films. However,the film doesn't portray the industry in either a good light or a bad one. There are no moral issues,no judgments,and no values attached to it, she says. Interestingly,human conditions do form the base for Viktoria's film Otec (The Father). The film that actually features non-actors and a real life father-son duo of Oskar Elek Sr. and Oskar Elek Jr.,deals with the strained relations a father and son have and how they try to mend it. The film is not a documentary,but a dramatised version of the real life experiences that a father and son have undergone. And it is also shot in real time. While it might come across as a documentary,the fact that it is bound by a script makes it fictional. However it is also real in its own ways, says Viktoria.
