Unique forum for amateur filmmakers

Dev Benegal and Anuradha Parikh have provided an unique platform to the the amateur filmmakers to showcase their taletns.

An amateur filmmaker can watch his creation being screened at the ongoing International Film Festival of India here, thanks to a unique initiative "24X7" undertaken by Dev Benegal and Anuradha Parikh to identify fresh talent.

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Participants under 24 years of age making short films ranging from 24 seconds to 24 minutes on nature and violence can feature in the festival, said project director Sopan Muller, adding that a camera and editing equipment would be provided to the participants.

The institutionalised model of film industry with financiers and producers tend to kill creativity in budding directors, said Benegal. "That is why, we are aiming to give participants total freedom in the kind of a film they want to make", he added.

"We had held this competition last year at Frames and there was a great response. This year Neelam Kapur invited us to the festival to provide greater exposure for the participants", he said.

These films will be shown before each screening of a festival film in select theatres during IFFI. The lure of international exposure has attracted many young filmmakers to this forum. MORE

"My film will be shown at an international film festival and that is my biggest provocation for coming here. I have brought along a team of actors from Mumbai for the project. There is no better inspiration than having your film premiered at an international film festival", said one of the competitors.