Having lived in a country that went through internal conflict for several decades, Ramitha Wijenayake was bound to get prompted to document the scenario though his lens.
The 22-year old student of filmmaking from Sri Lanka, however chose to narrate the tale though a narrow vision and thus filmed Selvie.
“The concept of ‘suicide bombers’ was introduced by our country. Though everyone knows that what they do is dirty yet there is a person hidden inside that armoury. It is that human being’s emotions that I wanted to capture and narrate,” describes an elated Ramitha after his fiction film won the first prize in the international category at the
recently concluded First Frame’ 14.
The sixth edition of this International Students’ Film Festival organised by students of MBICEM institute received about 113 entries from across the globe including.
The first-of-its-kind in the Capital, the festival was abuzz with youngsters from Mass Communication colleges, who communicated through their cameras - filming and screening what thay have filmed.
Over two days, the shortlisted films in national and international categories showcased the talent and fresh thought-process of youngsters.
“I am not a good speaker so I use camera as a weapon to express my thoughts,” confesses 13-year old Amritendu Roy, a school-goer from Kolkata who took his inspiration from Satyajit Ray and started making films after watching Sandip Ray’s Bombaiyer Bombete at the age of 9!
His short film Football bagged the first prize in the Best Student Film (school) category and a lot of appreciation at the festival.
A shy Amritendu later told Metrolife, “Though I have the freedom to do what I want but other children of my age are often pressurised to study all the time. I thus based my film on these teenagers and tried to capture their dreams.” Such precision of views astonishes the listener like the jury which had a difficult time in selecting one winner in each category.
“I wish I could make films like these,” says Hemant Gaba, an independent filmmaker who was part of the nomination jury.
“These youngsters are trying to break the grounds and have the potential but what is lacking is the right guidance which could take them to soaring heights,” he adds to which filmmaker Shazia Khan who was also in the final jury of the festival comments, “These young filmmakers go by the heart and not by the rules and that is what gives their
work freshness.”
This stands true for the works have varied themes and approach the subject in peculiar ways.
Move stated point. “Pluto said ‘Art is an imitation of an imitation’.
This formed the base of my mobile film Art & Culture: An interpretation,” says Antarik Anwesan, a student of AJK MCRC, Jamila Millia Islamia asserting that he wanted to be different from others.