Shorts @ MTC

Went to the MTC with TP after work on Monday for the fortnightly short film fest by The Bombay Elektrik Project. Compered by Sudeip, it was mostly a platform for aspiring short film makers to showcase their work, with a little Jan Svankmajer (my personal favourite) thrown in for good measure at the end. Sudeip mailed us all a description of the shorts before the event, which started at 9.30:

1st Short: Simon Says
Language: English
Run-time: 15 mins
Written and Directed by: Siddhant Goswami
Cast: Varun Tharcherkar, Sushant Naik, Satyajeet Ganu, Tejas Sawant, Adam Makhija, Riya Joseph
Edited by: Jeremy Fonseca

Simon says is a short film from the psychotic thriller genre. The story starts off when Dr. Colaco gets a frantic phone call from one of his associates at the hospital one morning. From there on we learn about what is heard & what is seen; who to trust & what to believe, & how all the truth around us can sometimes only be half the reality.

2nd Short: Prejudice
Language: English & Hindi
Run-time: 20 mins
DOP: Gandhaar Kadam
Cast: Vikrant Potnis, Sudeep Pagedar
Edited by: Pratik Rasam
Story by: Sudeep Pagedar
Music by: Nihar Shembekar (composer, lyrics and vocals), Rohan Patel & Nitish Randive (music arrangement)

The year is 1993. Following the destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, Bombay erupts in flames that burn to a cinder all they touch - the flames of communal violence. In the midst of this bloodbath, one night, two old friends meet. The religions they follow are different, but surely, the power of friendship can overcome the power of hatred. Right?

3rd Short: Safe Trip Home
Run Time : 5 mins

Eleven short films are being produced to accompany the release of Dido’s third studio album, Safe Trip Home. Based thematically around the concept of home, these shorts feature stories of hope, love, commitment and longing, from around the globe, a dump site in Rio, a Mumbai taxi-cab, the rugged coast of New Zealand's South Island, a Thai boxing ring and a picturesque Portuguese fishing village. The short film in Mumbai was shot by Siddharth Sikand for the song called 'Lets do things we normally do'

Jan Svankmajer Shorts -

1st Short: A game with stones(1965)
Run time :9mins

"Hra s kameny" (alternately called "Spiel mit Steinen" or "A Game with Stones") holds a special place. It shows stones dripping out of a faucet every quarter hour and doing a series of wacky dances, contortions, and what not. The kiss is especially impressive. As for the end, I guess that it's saying that all good things have to end eventually - although in this case, it sort of brought the end on itself.

2nd Short: Punch and Judy (1966)
Run time : 10mins

Punch & Judy is Svankmajer's third film effort, and a triumph of surrealist satire. Whereas his two previous films had been too strange for their own good, this third film stands as a strong testament to Svankmajer's blossoming ability as a filmmaker.The film features two puppets, Punch and Jody (mistitled as "Judy" - Jody has always been a male counterpart to Punch in his puppet plays, even though Punch does has a wife named Judy) who become involved in an escalating war with large mallets over a botched attempt to barter over a fine guinea pig. The sequences that follow feature bizarre imagery and seemingly nonsequitor clips and closeups (some animated) of archival newsprint.

Also had dinner at the MTC while waiting for the shorts to begin (their Chicken Stroganoff was excellent.) and bumped into a couple of office mates in the vicinity, though they weren't there for the shorts.

Shorts @ MTC