FTII to hold 5-day int'l students' film festival

PUNE: Students from various top film schools from all over the world will participate in the forthcoming international students' film festival being organised by the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) from September 24 to 28.
The five-day event, to be held at the FTII and the National Film Archive of India, is part of FTII's golden jubilee celebrations and will have as many as 25 film institutes participating.Filmmaker Govind Nihalani will inaugurate the festival on the evening of September 24.
Around 50 films made by students of the participating schools will be screened from September 25 to 28 between 9.30 am and 5 pm, said Gayatri Chatterjee, FTII faculty and coordinator of the festival. "This is a first-of-its-kind event organised by the FTII. The screenings will be followed by interactive sessions between the students and the audience."
The films that are being screened will also be part of a competition to be judged in three categories short-fiction, non-fiction and animation by film experts Reinhard Hanff from Germany, Bina Paul, Ranjan Palit and Gitanjali Rao. "Each film school will be represented by one student with their film. The competition carries a total prize money of 1,000 US dollars, which will be divided among the winners," said Chatterjee.
The festival's closing ceremony will have filmmaker Shyam Benegal in attendance. "This festival is expected to deepen the relationship between film schools from across the world and the FTII. It is meant to encourage students to come together and discuss their passion for cinema," she added.
The participating film schools include Beijing Film Academy, China; Royal College of Art, London; HF University of Film and Television, Munich; Chapman School of Film and Video; Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore; Griffith University, Australia; Tisch School of Art, New York University; NUCT, Rome; ECAM, Spain; EICTV, Cuba; HFF Konard Wolff, Germany; VCA & Film Music, The University of Melbourne, Australia; Le Femis, Paris, France; VGIK, Moscow, Russia; FAMU, California, USA; SRFTII, Kolkata; Whistling Woods, Mumbai; Prasad Film Academy, Chennai; La Femis, Paris and Sam Spiegel School of Film and Television, Israel.