The First Imphal International Short Film Festival 2012 to open this Sunday

Slated to be the biggest event in North East India, the First Imphal International Short Film Festival 2012 is all scheduled to open its doors this Sunday April 15 at Rupmahal Theatre, Imphal, Manipur.

The edition that was proposed to happen in December 2011 had to be rescheduled due to 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly Election. Organized and promoted by “Legend Studio Manipur and Action for Social Advancement (ASA) Manipur” with the support of Film Forum Manipur. IISFF 2012 will witness great short films from around the world. More than 100 short films around the world will be screened and we will have few retrospect sections of well known filmmakers.

According to Mohen Naorem, the festival director, “Our mission to organize such festival is to encourage indie filmmakers and the budding talents to make meaningful cinema. Films pay a significant role to educate, inspire and promote the pertinent issues that confront the region. And Manipur is a culturally rich place on the North Eastern region of India, bordering Myanmar and one of the emerging markets for South East Asian nations through the Look East policy.”

He added: “The Festival will showcases the global cinema to a larger audience and also an opportunity to acquaint the region, its people and its glorious history. We will be organising another Film festival called "North East India Film Festival in 2012".” The organiser hopes that such festivals will give a chance to explore the hidden talents of the region and as well encourage participating filmmakers to enjoy the regional theme and look forward to issues which would be shared for a better future.”

A four day cultural event will mark this prestigious festival.  Outstanding 40  domestic films and 10 International films has been received for the screenings like Open Doors by Ashish Pandey, Brian's Gandhi by Ram J Saravanan, Maut Ka Kunwa by Sumant Bapurao Mali from Mumbai, LOC-A Playground by Atul Kumar Sharma from Mumbai, Bengali film Swapno Satyakam by Tomal Chakraborti, Tamil film Sathish Chandrasekaran B.E., MBA by Sathish Chandrasekaran, Malayalam film "Sabdarekha" by Nirmal S, Samvedanam by Methil Komalankutty from Dubai, Iranian film The Bare Foot Leader Zohreh Zamani.

These films will compete in 9 categories: Best Short Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editor, Best music director, Three Special Mention. Eleven prizes are instituted which is the highest for any short film festival in the world. The Imphal Film Festival endeavors to present a program of films that will entertain, enlighten and educate the audience.

Mohen Naorem concludes: “We are dedicated to supporting evolving filmmakers by providing a forum to showcase their artistic vision. This is your festival, come and share your work with the audience having a rich cultural heritage of more than 5000 years.”

As the countdown begins, the Imphal Film Festival organising committee formally declared the shortlisted films that will be screened at the festival.

Shortlisted Indian Entries

Sabdarekha

1. THE TIGERS, THEY’RE ALL DEAD  --- Surekha Sengupta
2. KHULE DARWAAZE (OPEN DOORS)  --- Ashish Pandey
3. MAA-E-RI –a lyrical conversation with Mother Nature  --- Parvez Khan
4. GULCHERRY (FROLIC)  --- Rajesh Sarkar
5. SWAPNA  BHANGUR      --- Rajeev Mishra
6. BRIAN’S GANDHI   --- Ram J Saravanan
7. 3 PORTRAITS OF MOTHER INDIA  --- Md. Feroz Qureshi
8. HOPE  by Abhijit Purohit
9. ITS OK  --- Sweta Puri
10. KHWAAB --- Anadi Athaley
11. COFFEE MERI JAAN  --- Gaurav Panjwami
12. CHAPTER: LOVE --- Ashish Rampal & Samarth Garg
13. MY MAMMA’S MILK  --- JayaPrakash P Koroth
14. 100% SUGARFREE --- Amol Jadhav
15. EKTI  CHOTO CHOBI (A SHORT FILM)  --- Bulbul Chakraborti
16. THE WAY SHE IS VENERATED IN LOVE --- Sanju Madhav
17. KHARA KARODPATI --- Piyush Thakur
18. MOBILE JOB --- Mohen Naorem
19. KAMERA --- Nijo Jonson
20. MAUT KA KUNWA --- Sumant Bapurao Mali
21. SWAPNO SATYAKAM --- Tomal Chakraborti
22. SATHISH CHANDRASEKARAN B.E., MBA --- Sathish Chandrasekaran
23. SABDAREKHA ---Nirmal S.
24. NISAPTHAM --- Hari Prasad M
25. LAADAM --- Sandeep Pampally
26. MUSIC OF THE BROOM --- Sajin Babu T.A.
27. TAN --- Maibam Bankim
28. THE JOURNEY --- Tharun Bhascker Dhassyam
29. THE METHOD --- Tharun Bhascker Dhassyam
30. FULLSTOP --- Vivek Muralidharan
31. PAARAASAKTHI --- Aarthi Mangala J.M.
32. VAAZHKAI --- R. Nandha Kumar
33. THE FAKE'RS --- Ghanshyam Bhatt
34. MRITYU ROG --- Partha Paul
35. SWECHA --- Uday Gurrala   

Shortlisted International Entries

1. THE CORTEGE – Spanish Film by Marina Seresesky
2. DOLLS FACTORY – Spanish Film by Jainme Bartolome
3. WHEN IT RAINS – Spanish Film by Liz Lobato
4. IMAGINARY FRIEND PRACTICAL MANUAL –Spanish Film by Ciro Altabas
5. BECAUSE THERE ARE THINGS YOU NEVER FORGET – Italian film by Lucas
6. SAMVEDANAM- Methil Komalankutty from Dubai
7. POINT OF VIEW- Syed Raihan ul Islam from Bangladesh.
8. VESTED LIFE -  Shomir Faruk from Bangladesh.
9. CHARAK POOJA -  Shahuduzzaman

As most of films are on transit, due to delay in courier services, the organizing committee are awaiting for a few more films whose entries have already reached them before the scheduled deadline. The final list will be announced on 13th April 2012. The organizing committee has requested filmmakers whose films are not included in the initial list to wait for the final list. Meanwhile, they take this opportunity to invite one and all to the festival and ensure it is a grand success.