Dark films light up Delhi Short Film Fest

Thoughtful short films and documentaries were awarded at the Delhi Shorts International Film Festival

Promoting short film and documentary culture in a country where commercial cinema has always ruled the roost is not an easy task. However, there are some organisations trying to bring short films into the limelight. Miniboxoffice is one such, which recently hosted Delhi Shorts International Film Festival, where filmmakers - including established and amateurs were awarded for their work in the Short and the Documentary sections.

The festival opened with 00.00 am, a thriller directed by Prateek Kelkar and Shivam. The film revolves around a man who kills his girlfriend in the middle of the night but is shocked on seeing her alive later. The film received the Best Short Film Award in the students category.

In the non-students category Proof by Kamil Sheikh took home the Best Short Film Award. Proof is the story of an encounter specialist who is given the charge to interrogate a serial killer. While interrogating, the officer attempts to find out the killer’s motives. In an exciting turn of events, the killer goes on to reveal things and incidents to the officer which eventually unravel the mystery.

Subtext of Anger by Vandana Kohli which explores the emotion, expression and root cause of anger,  was awarded the Best Documentary Film.  The 12-minute long Mumbai, by Shadaab Mirza, brought to light deep-rooted views about communalism. Based on a true incident, the movie highlights pre-conceived notion about Muslims and their role in terrorism.  Mumbai was screened at Cannes Short Film Corner this year.  After receiving accolades for his work in other film festivals, Shadaab along with his partner Manish Kundra is working on four other short films and is writing scripts for a feature film too. The movie was given a Jury award in Special Movies segment.

Other movie in this segment included A Perfect Murder by Kamil Sheikh again. It is a dark film where a husband hires a professional killer to get himself killed after several attempts at suicide. Aware of his wife’s extra-marital affair, he has been trying unsuccessfully to end his life but the killer has other designs. The movie has won awards in 48 Hours Film Project - which invites filmmakers from around the world to complete a short film in just two days.

Interestingly, criminal psychologist Dr Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar was given a special award for his An Ode to Meher - about families which end up paying the price if the head of the family is working for a corporate house.