Kerala Film Group Planning to Produce 45 Short Films

DUBAI:
Kochi Metro UAE Film Fest is planning to produce 45 films before the UAE’s 45th National Day, December 2, 2016, thus providing an opportunity for the Malayalee community in the UAE to pay tributes to the country.
It is the culmination of a mobile film literacy movement ,which is taking shape in the form of the Kochi Metro Short Films UAE. It is also planning 45 short films on the occasion of UAE’s 45th National Day.
The first of its kind film festival had an informal opening at Ramada Hotel, Deira, Dubai, with the screening of Reflections, a 20-minute short film, which has Mohanlal, one of the top Indian actors, in the lead role. The three-day film festival had two other venues in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
On September 29, the venue of the festival was Sharjah Indian Association Hall and on October 1, the films were screened in Abu Dhabi Indian Social Centre.
According to Ravindhar, who has been in the South Indian film industry for decades as an actor and script writer, the festival is part of his mobile film literacy movement, followed by the Malalayali community worldwide.
As part of the Kochi Metro Short Films UAE, expat filmmakers were also given the chance to participate in two theme-based contests namely “Sneham” (Love) and “Pravasam” (On Expat life) for first comers (non-experienced) and filmmakers (the experienced) respectively.
Ravindhar, who is also the festival director, said: “Intolerance is widespread and there is a need to spread the importance of universal love among people. The Indian diaspora has so much to share, but they do not have a strong platform to unleash their creativity. Short films are a powerful tool in this digital age to make their voices heard.”
The Kochi Metro UAE, which has Mohanlal as its chairman, is a 250-member Whatsapp group, and makes use of the vast digital landscape for their creative expression. Kochi Metro Short Film Fest which is spreading its reach to the UAE is trying to identify and nurture filmmaking talents among Indian expats. The aim is to ready 45 short films on the 45th National Day of the UAE (on December 2).
What started as informal WhatsApp chats has now led to the formation of Kochi Metro UAE Short Film Fest. Actor Raveendran, festival director of Kochi Metro Short Film Fest, speaks: “In the past two-and-a-half months, we used to gather over a WhatsApp group from 8.30 pm to 11 pm (UAE time) and discuss films. Film experts are there to take classes for the members, do panel discussion, listen to other members and answer their doubts through voice chats,” he informs.
Scenarist-film director Mecartin, Tamil cinematographer Sathya and sound designer Arun Varma have taken voice classes for the 250-member group.
The film fest launched in UAE will have more outings in October and November first week in the UAE. Fest director Mohanlal’s message was screened at the launch. Themed-competitions for films on the topics ‘Expatriation’ (of 10-minutes) and ‘Love’ (of five minutes) are conducted during the festival. The five-minute films are for beginners who are taking films on easy available technology devices like mobile phone cameras.
The mass film-making campaign starting November 2 has more interesting things to explore. “We have a common topic for filmmaking — Happiness. The UAE has got a Minister of Happiness and we are expressing solidarity to such a step. Finding filmmakers is the activity till November. They’ll be trained with seminars and workshops. Rest of the things, filming and funding are left to the makers. The 45 claps can be heard on December 2,” explains Raveendran.
This is a wider canvas, so that expats from across India can take movies in their languages to say Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. “Our WhatsApp group itself has as many as 60 filmmakers. But the campaign is not restricted to Malayali expats and the search is on a wider space.” On January 26, Republic Day, all movies shall be ready for the screens.