Thur, Nov 10 – 5 short Films

Thursday, November 10, 7pm

5 SHORT FILMS

PRINTED RAINBOW, by Gitanjali Rao, 15 min (Cannes 2006)

Synopsis: A big city. A tiny apartment. There, in solitude, lives an old woman and her cat, stuck in their daily chores against the hiss of the city. The Windows look out into more windows with more desolate lives. The old woman, however, has a secret window: her precious collection of match boxes. Their printed labels open into a myriad of exotic worlds. The cat is the sole companion in her explorations of these magical worlds where beauty, imagination and wonder triumph over the insignificance of her existence

Director: Gitanjali Rao is a gold medalist from Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai and a self taught animator. Rao learned on the job during her association with many studios and film projects early in her career. Her earlier experimental animation short, Orange (2002) won many awards and critical acclaim internationally. She also has a string of very popular animated commercials to her credit. Rao is currently an independent animator and illustrator who makes her own films alongside her other professional assignments.

Recognition at Cannes: This short film was screened in competition during the Cannes Critics week in 2006 and won three awards for the best short film.

A VERY VERY SILENT FILM, by Manish Jha, 5 min (Cannes 2002)

Synopsis: An exploration of the social ills that affect women in poverty: another woman dies again on the streets after living a life of mental and physical abuse.

Director: Manish Jha worked as an assistant director for television serials. Wanting to move away from monotonous soaps on television, he decided to make this short film. His later films include Matrubhoomi: A Nation without Women (2003) and Anwar (2007)

Recognition at Cannes: The film was awarded the Prix du jury at Cannes Film Festival 2002 for best short film.

CHINESE WHISPERS, by Raka Dutta, 35 min (Cannes 2006)

Synopsis: A man and a woman, in an urban space have only met as strangers, and till the end they remain so, as they grow steadily towards alienation from their surroundings. They share the same space, that is the city, but they have their own set of problems to deal with. Coming closer and closer to their own crisis, they start growing comfortable in their respective existences.

Director: Raka Dutta is a student of the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI) in Kolkata, Dutta’s film is named after a popular game where to a row of children, a sentence is whispered in the ear of the first child and he is asked to pass it on to the next one, and so on. By the time it reaches the last child in the row, both the construction and the meaning of the sentence tend to get changed. ”So it is in life where the things which, at one stage, might be important to a person, lose their intensity and meaning down the years,” Dutta stated.

Recognition at Cannes: This film was screened at the Cannes Film festival as part of the competitive Cinéfondation section in 2006.

KHOJ, by Tridib Poddar, 26 min (Cannes 2002)

Synopsis: The Bengali film is about a man in search of his friend, missing for a decade. The film captures the despair and pain of the pursuit and juxtaposes it all with hope.

Director:  Tridib Poddar, a post- graduate in Cinema with specialization in Direction & Screenplay from Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata, has since, made two critically acclaimed short films ‘KHOJ’ & ‘SAHORE’ which have been shown in many international film festivals.

Recognition at Cannes:  The film was selected for the competitive Cinéfondation section of the 55th annual Cannes Film Festival in 2002

TETRIS, by Anirban Datta, 31 min (Cannes 2006)

Synopsis: The film writer, cameraman, production manager and the actress set off on a car trip driving through the story. The crew falls apart one by one. The trip continues till they meet a dead end. But the story has to return…

Director: Anirban Datta was a student of screenwriting at the Satyajit Ray Film & TV Institute (SRFTI). His short documentary film “Here is my nocturne” (2004), as a part of the curriculum in SRFTI, was screened in major Indian film festivals and was also screened as a part of an exhibition on Indian art and popular culture in the Helsinki City art Museum, Finland. “Tetris” is his diploma film from SRFTI in 2006.

Recognition at Cannes: The short film competed in the Cannes Film Festival 2006 as part of Cinéfondation section.

First come first served basis