Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Cinema on 18mm

Here’s a new avenue for individuals to unleash their creativity: Cell phone cinema!

Many people may argue that mobile phone radiation is harmful to one’s health. Some say it can damage one’s DNA; some put up videos on YouTube showing how it can cook an egg and even make popcorns! Worst of all, phones with cameras are often used by the disoriented and perverted minds to come up with scandalous MMS videos. However, Asian Academy of Film & Television (AAFT) has given mobile phone users a new direction, toward the art of movie making. So, as it goes ahead promoting this radiation-emitting monster, no one, as yet, is complaining. This year, on 21st January, 2009, it organised the 2nd International Film Festival of Cell Phone Cinema, which aims at providing a platform for creative individuals to create masterpieces by making use of this rapidly growing technology. Here, the competition was in the field of fiction/music videos, reality/electronic news gathering, and still images, wherein the participants are expected to use mobile phones only in order to take photographs, and videos are not to exceed the time limit of three minutes. The competition witnessed 500 entries from over 20 countries.

They were judged by a jury, which comprised a mix of Indian and international personalities such as Karl Bardosh, Master Professor, Tisch School of Arts, NYU and the pioneer of these awards; Kurt Inderbitzin, Hollywood Film producer/director; Rahul Rawail, film director; Pankaj Prashar, film director; and Arun Anand, still photographer. The winners for the video films were All Elements of Hand – Ek Kavita by Sachin Sreshta and Mukti Krishnan as well as Rainwaters by Sachit Sadanandan; which won US $1,000 and US $500 respectively. While the first is a film that shows what a human can achieve with his or her hands, including surreal achievements like holding sunlight in one’s palm, the second is a film about rain water harvesting. The best award for a still photograph with a prize of US $500 went to Dead Carrier can Die too by Kamal Mahrishi that showed a discarded van from a morgue. The winning films will be screened at New York University – Tisch School of the Arts Theatre.

Akshay Marwah, the festival director, quotes film director Pankaj Prashar to enumerate the criteria for choosing the winners, “the main idea was not replacing a film camera by a film camera, but to see that a mobile phone can capture moments that film cameras can’t, and that is one of the most important criteria and of course technicalities and quality would follow.” Mr. Rawail, one of the jury members, said, “Whatever the technology, it is ultimately the content which should hold the attention of the viewer, and therefore those who create, must realise that their responsibility has increased”. “These short films can provide a good laugh and some can be for social causes and be informative as well.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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