Why was Gandhi shot? A short film will tell you

From AIDS and euthanasia, to the memoirs of a Sri Lankan Refugee, The Guide tells you about the impressive line-up of award-winning short films at Whistling Woods International's Short Film Awards

From AIDS and euthanasia, to the memoirs of a Sri Lankan Refugee, The Guide tells you about the impressive line-up of award-winning short films at the 1takemedia.com Film competition awards

There's more to movies than Bollywood. For one, there is rising interest among young filmmakers to create short films, which also require relatively lower cost of production.

Also, if you are prone to fidget your way through full-length, 3 hour feature films, short films are a sweet relief since they compress stories into mini features as short as 10 minutes.

Keeping this new trend in mind, 1takemedia.com, in association with Whistling Woods International, a film, television, animation and media institute; had organised a short film competition in March this year, the winner of the same will be felicitated today with the screening of prize winning shorts.

From over 5,000 entries received from India and abroad, the jury comprising industry heavy-weights Subhash Ghai, Ketan Mehta, Vikram Bhatt and John Mathew Matthan zeroed in on three winners across three category segments, based on duration (1-10 minutes, 10-30 minutes and 30-60 minutes) of projects.

88 Keys to Heartbreak by Nishit Mohan Singh

Winners will receive Rs 2,50,000 each and get an opportunity to assist a prominent director.

Proving that creativity doesn't necessarily require a solid financial support, some of the short films were made on a shoe-string budget, and even shot on handycams. Surprisingly, over 50% of the entries were received from non-metros.

What to watch out for

The People's Choice Award went to E Saravanan's Tamil film Vekkai (Suffocation), a 7-minute Tamil drama based on the story of a Sri Lankan refugee who relives the memory of his childhood and his beloved country through a letter he writes to his friend.

Titled Eraser, director Ambar Prakash's 40 second feature creates awareness about AIDS. Spandan (21 min) by Saillesh Dupaare is a Hindi short film dealing with the issue of Euthanasia (mercy killing) in India.

Nishit Mohan Singh's Hindi drama titled 88 Keys To Heartbreak (54 min) spins a tale of an aspiring music composer who meets with an unfortunate car accident and is restricted to a coma for 15 years.

Mid Shot An experiment with Truth (44 min), a Hindi short film by Rambhul Singh, is about a director's quest to unravel the plot behind the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

At: Whistling Woods International, Goregaon.
On: Today, 3.30 pm onwards Entry is by invitation only.

WIN
50 free passes to the awards ceremony The first 50 readers who come to the venue with this Mid-Day pass get to attend the award ceremony and screening of the movies.