11th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2023
Short films section : Films from India
Dir : Pratim Bharat Waghmare; 19 min; India; Short film
A country boy with humble beginnings migrates to the city with the dream to make a decent living. He also wants to save enough money to bail out his father, who is being wrongfully held by prejudiced police officers. He overcomes multiple hardships but unforeseen circumstances halt his plans.
Footprints
Dir : Tathagata Ghosh; 23 min; India; Short film
Pampa, a single mother and a lower caste slum dweller, works as domestic help for a dysfunctional middle class family. As her world comes crashing down at work one day, Pampa must stand up for herself by blurring the lines between the master and the maid.
My heart is an ocean
Dir: Tanvi Jadwani; 21:50; India; Short film
As the water recedes the reclaimed shore of Mumbai every evening, three children living on its shore in a small fishing ghetto come out to play on this temporary playground. The sea dictates game of the day. On a lucky day when herons are spotted hovering over the sea, it's a day to catch fish in shallow waters. One evening after fish are caught, Chirag declares that he wants to take all the fish home to build the biggest aquarium anyone has ever seen. This leads to a fight among playmates.
Spark
Dir: Swaroop Elamon; 6:26; India; Short films
Implications of a casual conversation between two friends takes a turn for the worse.
Duswapna
Dir: Jay Kholia; 13:00; India; Short films
The long poem Duswapna (Nightmare) addressed to a woman named Mrinal (which in Sanskrit would mean Delicate or Lotus) paints strange pictures in colors and sounds; aurality / visuality of which adds to the woman’s anonymity. And yet, the poetic enunciation by the Gujarati modernist poet Suresh Joshi acquires certain universality in its surreal imagery and sonic asymmetry, where the moon turns green, her body turns green that bites green, darkness turns green; the dancing fairies and the wind playing the flute fills the invisible air.
The poet sees a golden idol in Mrinal. Who is she - his lover? his utopia? his dreadful dream? He walks through the crowds, effacing his face… who is faceless?
Her Canvas
Dir: Sagar Devram Minde; 9:14; India; Short films
On a cloudy melancholy evening Myra a visual artist experiences an overwhelming surge of emotions. Hinged between past and present she tries to make sense of reality around her. Deeply drenched in fantasy and memories she reflects on her relationship with Surbhi.
An Old Story (Pazhaya Kadhai Onnu)
Dir: Prateek Prajosh; 15:54; India; Short films
Deep rooted trauma from sexual abuse suffered as a child, rocks the marriage of a young couple. Will the victim finally confront the abuser and rid the baggage weighing heavy on the marriage?
Cheepatakadumpa
Dir: Devashish Makhija; 20:00; India; Short films
‘CHEEPATAKADUMPA’ follows three women over less than a day as they awaken their naughty teenage alter egos when they meet again after years, unleashing mischief on each other, and in turn on the biased patriarchal belief systems of the India they were born into. In a masculine culture that is unduly serious about making the rules that women are expected to live by, can Teja, Santo and Tamanna find true and happy rebellion in the gasping throes of this mischief?
Cycle
Dir: Devashish Makhija; 19:46; India; Short films
'Cycle' is the story of a wronged young tribal woman who, in the absence of systemic justice, turns rebel, but struggles to be able to fulfil all the expectations that the path to retribution demands.
Missing Since 6.12.1956
Dir: Anand Pande; 19:58; India; Short films
As the largest democracy, India takes pride in its freedom fighters, social reformists and policymakers. Today, this pride is demonstrated in the form of "hero worship" by erecting statues; displaying photos and mass celebrating the birth and death anniversaries... ignoring the key messages and thoughts propagated by the leaders.
This short film begins with two teachers at a government school in a small village finding out that they must be ready overnight for a surprise inspection by the senior government official in the morning. But they are missing an important photo from the school office wall. The photo is of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.
Shimga
Dir: Sanat Dhananjay Ganu; 17:32; India; Short films
Shimga, the film, explores various layers of alienation between the privileged and the underprivileged. In the current times, the two economic classes seem to be separated by such a chasm that they struggle to understand each other's language, let alone empathise with one another.
Mother
Dir: Anupjyoti Choudhury; 19:39; India; Short films
Rebellions, which are mostly seen negatively by others, are started by individuals with their own stories to tell rooted in shared histories. “Aai” is a short film bringing to light such personal turmoil that the youth of the state had to go through to realise their dream of liberating their land and when the youth of the land suffer & their families also feel the heat of the fire burning within them.
Turn
Dir: Sharika P Prasad; 20:00; India; Short films
Rithu and Anju are two 25 year old friends, staying together in a rented single room space in Kochi. Like most places they have a very strict curfew and a judgmental house owner who adds to their problems. They almost got a new place to stay by lying they are sisters because they found it really difficult to find a place for bachelorette.
Trespass
Dir : Tharun Venkituswamy Saravanan; 6.50 min; India; Short fiction
A woman's date is interested in helping her organize her room.
What’s in a name?
Dir: NAJRIN ISLAM; 22:00; India; Short film
'What’s in a Name?' is drawn from lived realities and experiences around the writer’s Muslim identity, and the delicate complications arising from the dual need to preserve and assimilate. Written as a monologue, it deals with the protagonist’s entrenched fear of hellfire on having deviated from normative expectations by offering the namaaz (Islamic prayer) while menstruating.
LIBERATED
Dir: Medini Kelamane; 19:51; India; Short films
A family is getting ready for a marriage alliance yet to be made. As the boy, Shekhara is growing bit out of age and the girl, Pushpa being physically not very appealing, the marriage has been relatively delayed for both of them. Shekhara looks timid and Pushpa looks vivid at the event. Both the families agree quite quickly on the alliance after getting approval from them and fix the wedding.But as a twist, groom’s family rejects the alliance just before couple of days of wedding without stating an appropriate reason.
SAMARAM
Dir: Mridul S; 15:00; India; Short films
Annie is a rural village women who is conscious about her surrounding. Her son faces lot of problems because of tge religious terms in the school. 'Samaram' represents her small riot against the existing Indian social condition.
Natok
Dir: Shubhanshi Chakraborty; 4:35; India; Short films
Natok, in English means ‘drama or a play.’ The film takes us into the naïve mind of a young boy who tries to comprehend the dichotomy of multiple roles a human plays in a life. He is trying to encompass the authenticity of the contrasting roles we stage everyday.
Ameena
Dir: Guruswamy Ravi Teja Vudatha; 10:03; India; Short films
An adolescent love story that deals with social strife finally reacts with an ultimatum towards society.
Sandhya
Dir: Utkarsh Rajesh Aherkar; 12:20; India; Short films
This story is about the emotional journey of Sara as she searches for Sandhya and how she works towards contributing something to make the lives of transgender people a little more dignified by trying to involve them into the mainstream work culture of the society.
Victim
Dir: Praveen Shankar; 13:48; India; Short films
A lonely old man on his quest to reach somewhere is stopped by a strange phenomena that keeps recurring.
Namaskar
Dir: Athithya Kanagarajan; 2:00; India; Short films
Story of a common man affected by three different decisions in three different times.
Hands Of A…
Dir: Snigdha P Roy; 14:55; India; Short films
Hands Of A… is a story about a PAST that affects two people in the PRESENT. Jiten meets Reema to apologize after years, for a grave act he had done. Reema thinks that the apology is genuine. But as time unravels and talks go deeper, she realizes that Jiten is here for his own sake, there is no guilt.
Another woman’s story
Dir: Karthik David; 17:38; India; Short films
The story is about Kayal, a single mother who lives in a slum and struggles for her daily bread and butter. Her work is to remove leaves as cleaning servant on events. As usual she comes for a work in a birthday event in a community hall near her slum. She arrives late and as the birthday event is processed she admires the Birthday babies who are well dressed, ornament in gold. She admires them and totally forgets about her work, gets scolded. As events pass by she comes to know about the shortage of food and fears she would not get food to take home for her child.
Faces
Dir: Maaz Kazmi; 1:46; India; Short films
‘Rubaroo [Faces]’ applies a distinct approach to its visual development which ensures that the punch of the film truly lands. The plot has set out to convey an important social message, one about cruel, brutal acid attacks carried out against women in India.
Happy independence day
Dir: Maaz Kazmi; 1:52; India; Short films
If you're not free to love, you're not free. A couple experiences the fear and anxiety owing to a seemingly creepy troublemaker. The situation makes them question their independence.
Banana Republic
Dir: ANAS RASHAD; 8:40; India; Short films
A traditional family discovers the joy of having their daughter-in-law convert to their faith. However, after meeting their son, the excitement is short-lived.
You want company?
Dir: Mehak – Matharu; 18:43; India; Short films
This film is a portrait of a young woman, who has moved from Assam to Bangalore to make a living.
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