A trip through films

The workshop had many famous figures from the world of films grace the event and speak to the students.

They shared their thoughts and ideas and spoke to the students about film-making. The workshop was designed for the communication students to able to understand the nuances of film-making, its marketing, distribution and viewership.

The workshop was inaugurated by Narahari Rao, film critic and secretary of FIPRESCI, India. He introduced and unravelled the world of cinema, elaborating on its history, origins and growth. He also showed how cinema had started as a science and then graduated to a purely art form.

This was then followed by a presentation by renowned cinematographer G S Bhasker. Classics from different countries like Sansho, the Baliff (Japanese), ‘Close Up’ (Iranian), Dweepa (Kannada) and Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam (Hindi) among others were shown.

They were reviewed and discussed in the presence of literary critic N Manu Chakravarthy. The students were also given a glimpse of the cultures and cinemas of various eras.

Next, K Hariharan, Director of L V Prasad Film and TV Academy, Chennai, gave lectures on a session – ‘Deconstructing Contemporary Cinema – The Indian Context and The Melodramatic form’. The workshop ended with a talk on the ‘Future of moving image media’ by the director of Films and Theatre, Prakash Belavadi.

The grand finale of the workshop was presided over by globally acclaimed director Girish Kasarvalli who discussed his recent works. The workshop was a great help to the students of SIMC, especially those who are planning to choose the path of film-making as a career.

 “The workshop has been fruitful as it taught us about the different camera techniques, content, music and characters among others. It was an advantageous experience as we were enlightened and were inspired to break the conventional image of Indian cinema and take it forward,” said some of the students.