In the last two to three years or so , Mumbai has suddenly felt the need to acknowledge the art of short film making.
Other than regular annual short film competitions such as The 48 Hour Project organised by British Council and The Short Film Challenge by JJUMP (Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Unique Motion Pictures), the city has been witness to the rise of film clubs thatscreen short films exclusively.
Cyrus Dastur who started one of the foremost short film clubs in Mumbai called Blew Note film club in2000 and is today the founder of the Shamiana club, feels, “The attention span of the audience has become shorter. People don’t have time and they want everything in a jiffy. Just like how T-20 has come up so fast, the same thing is happening with short-films now.” Founded one-and-a-half years back, the club seems to have established a base of approximately 1 million followers.
For ad filmmaker Siddharth Sikand, who directed the music video Let’s Do The Things We Normally Do for Dido’s latest album Safe Trip Home, 30 second ad films have been a great learning. “30 second ad films are very restricting. You can’t do much but condense everything in this small time,” he says.
However according to filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, short films are not necessarily a learning medium for bigger films. “The good thing is that short films lend themselves to experimentation because they are so much cheaper than a full-fledged film,” he says.
Last year, a 2-minute short film titled The Waif, based on child molestation and directed by Indian director Naren Multani, won four major international awards at various international festivals.
Naren believes that a short film is the best form ofself-expression. “A short film costs nothing. On top of that there is total freedom to shoot and showcase whatever you wish. You can’t do that with a feature film. And if it wins an award at any renowned film festival, then you have established proof of your credentials which will definitely help in the future,” he remarks.
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