Online ‘micro’ movie festival coming up to help aspiring filmmakers

Kolkata: An initiative has been made to organise a true people's film festival, where five-minute ‘micro’ movies sent by aspirants in their chosen language, with English subtitles, will be streamed on the internet.

Sahitya Akademi Award-winning poet Subodh Sarkar has also consented to send an entry, his maiden step as a filmmaker, to the festival where movies cannot be more than five minutes long.

“Turi Film Festival will encourage filmmakers - aspiring, known names or even those having little previous experience - to make shorts which will be engaging, crispy and have a strong visual impact from the word go,” Programme Director Animesh Goswami told PTI.

If Instagram reels by individuals can go viral, enthusiasts can make 5-minute films with more finesse, he said adding that the attention span of viewers is narrowing these days.

The organisers’ website turifilm.com claims it is a “micro film festival that gives equal focus to filmmaking and message it conveys.” The films can be made in any language but they must have English subtitles.

Anyone can submit a film with any topic but, the website says the chances of corporate sponsorship may increase if the films are on the 13 given themes that include (un)employment, parental alienation, financial independence, rural women – woes and joys, child labour and social media.

Submission of entries started on April 15 and will continue till June 15. "We expect hundreds of entries in this period," Goswami, a former IT honcho, said.

People will be able to watch shortlisted movies on the festival’s YouTube channel after May 15. However, the last date for submitting films is June 15.

Voting for the entries is going on and it will end on July 31 and films will be selected for awards from the shortlisted ones. Awards will be declared on August 15.

The first, second, and third prize winners will be richer by Rs 1 lakh, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively apart from jury awards of Rs 50,000 each. There will also be a token prize for the film being shortlisted for streaming.

As part of the move to involve professionals from other fields, poet Subodh Sarkar will also send a five-minute film which will be based on his own poem.

"One of my poems has strong cinematic elements. I plan to take this up for recreating it in images. It will be my debut work in film," Sarkar told PTI. The jury comprises director Arindam Sil, cinematographer-director Sunny Joseph, actor-director Jayant Kripalini, Japanese content producer Takeuchi Rintarou, and creative director-actor Sumanto Chattopadhyay.

"While we plan to organise the festival annually, we shall keep promoting aspiring filmmakers, including students of film studies, and professionals of other fields. Whoever wants to tell a story in the most engaging and precise manner, we shall keep working hard to get them in touch with corporates who want to sponsor such films," he said.

Goswami, an IIT alumnus, said, "We had started a platform 'The Chhota Story' in 2021 to help budding writers vent their thoughts and imaginations. It turned out to be a hit. The Turi Film Festival is an extension of that concept."