Madhu Bala Institute of Communication and Electronic Media Organises Film Festival

Madhu Bala Institute of Communication and Electronic Media (MBICEM) affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), New Delhi organised an international film festival for students ‘First Frame’. The event which was held at Sri Ram Centre on 2nd and 3rd April saw esteemed guests like Prof Dilip K Bandyopadhyay (vice chancellor, GGSIPU), Dr BP Joshi (registrat, GGSIPU) and Tripurari Sharan (director general, Doordarshan). The Final Preview Committee consisted of Zoobi Amir, Cinematographer, Vijay Parmar, Head, Dept of Oral and Visual Communication, Indian Institute of Mass Communication and Hemant Gaba, Filmmaker.

The event was inaugurated by chief guest Prof Dilip K Bandyopadhyay. Addressing the film lovers, he said, “Education transforms mind from one level to another. Creativity comes with exposure and a platform like this provides exposure and teaches us the technology that we use”.

A live performance by Kingdom of Dreams, Gurgaon, Q & A Session with the team of Placebo-The Film supplemented the screening of 31 international students’ films, a national photography exhibition and an on-the-spot mobile filmmaking competition at First Frame 2013- Fifth International Students’ Film Festival, a two day festival of students’ films, concluded the event. Cash Prizes worth Rs 1.5 Lakhs were given to the winners of the three competitions at the festival.

As the festival came to a close, Prof MB Julka, Festival Director and Director of MBICEM, said in her closing address, “It has been an amazing two day festival. We witnessed so many films from budding student filmmakers from India and abroad. The response from the audience has been great with the auditorium jam packed throughout the two days.”

Dr B P Joshi, chief guest for the valedictory function addressed the gathering and said, “MBICEM students have done a wonderful job by conducting this festival. It was very well planned and I hope in the years to come the festival grows bigger.”

Tripurari Sharan, guest of honour, praised the efforts by the students and wished them luck for their future endeavours.

On the second day of the festival, 15 films from student filmmakers across India and abroad were screened to an open audience comprising of students, professionals, critics, writers, and other members of the media, and were subject to judgement by a Final Preview Committee who decided the winners.

Tripurari Sharan and B P Joshi opened the envelopes and declared the winners in each of the categories. Cash awards worth INR 1.5 Lakhs, a trophy and certificates of merit were given away to the winners. The ‘Best Film- International’ Award went to Carla Simon Pipo of the London Film School, United Kingdom, for her film ‘Born Positive’. The ‘Best Film- Indian’ Award was shared between ‘Nadia’ by Taj Ali Naqvi and ‘Ati’ by Jaymin Modi both from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. The ‘Best Film- Undergraduate’ Award was shared between ‘Autumn of Life’ by Prantik Deshmukh of St. Joseph’s College, Bengaluru and ‘Broken Strings of Marionette’ by Deepak Jain of MBICEM. The Best Film- Animation’ Award went to ‘The Solitary Soul’ by Jithin Das & Garshia of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.

On declaration of the results, Hemant Gaba said, “I am really impressed with the festival. Some of the films that we saw were really good. It was very tough on our part to decide just one winner in each of the categories. Considering that these are all student productions, every film is good in some aspect and I am sure these young filmmakers have a lot of eagerness to learn in the years to come.”

Parallel to the film screenings were two ancillary activities of First Frame 2013: The F8 National Students’ Photography Competition & Exhibition at the Lobby, Sri Ram Centre and the On-the-Spot Mobile Filmmaking Competition. Rajinder Wadhwa, Incharge- Photo Section, National Bal Bhawan, was the jury of the F8 National Students’ Photography Competition. Sushant Uniyal from MBICEM, Nitika Yadav from Salwan Public School, Gurgaon and Dhruv Maheshwari from MBICEM bagged the 1st, 2ndand 3rd prizes in the competition respectively. The theme for the competition was ‘Emotion- One Thing You Can’t Hide’.

The Mobile Filmmaking Competition received entries from media students who shot mobile films and submitted them in less than 5 hours time for the competition. The films were then screened today morning and were subject to judgement. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners of the Mobile Filmmaking Competition were Abhishek Thakur, Deepak Jain and Saransh Jain respectively, all from MBICEM.