Anand Patwardhan toils with 'War and Peace'

The second day of the DigitAll Movement (DAM) began with the screening of an edited version of reputed activist and filmmaker Anand Patwardhan’s award-winning documentary War and Peace. The film War and Peace unveils the reality behind the façade created by common concepts of democracy and nuclear nationalism. It goes on to delve deeper into the Arms’ race that has been steadily gaining pace since India and Pakistan conducted their first nuclear tests back-to-back in 1998. War and Peace considers how the pseudo arms race is a front for a strong military-industrial complex.

The movie containing exclusive footage from nuclear power States that include India, Pakistan, Japan and the United States of America is an impressive and successful attempt to showcase the aftermath and repercussions of war, proliferation of weaponry and the dangers involving abuse of nuclear energy. The controversy that arose from the blatant accusations leveled against the government, political parties and the people in power caused the film to go through tedious rounds of court appeals and cases so that it could receive permission to be broadcasted on Doordarshan.

Discussing the film in an interactive session after the screening of the film, Mr. Anand Patwardhan said, “The film is extremely complex; not by any conscious attempt, but because of the sheer nature of the subject. Covering reality requires the movie to be complex”. Mr. Patwardhan believes that the development paradigm among people in our coutry keeps shifting according to their ideologies. Some believe that science and technological development are the ultimate yardsticks of a country’s progress and its citizens’ standards of living. But it is alarming to note that the part of our populace that considers nuclear strength and armaments as the only note-worthy sign of a progressive and powerful country is slowly but steadily on the rise.

- Vinaya Gopaal

Day 1: Fun at DAM!

With the seminars having come to a highly successful end, the crowd spilled out from the auditorium onto our fair campus, most of them looking unsure about what to do next. But there was hope! An on-the-spot mobile movie making contest saw 9 teams fan out across the campus, shooting anybody and anything their imaginations took fancy to. In the meantime, a hapless aspirant or two ran around looking for the right clothes to wear. Mr. Narendra Modi’s visit found the auditorium inadequate to accommodate his fans and at another end of the campus, Claymation’s Mr. Vinayak of Frameboxx fame modeled characters from the ‘Mahabharata’, holding the undivided attention of the 50-odd DAM participants.
All this, while RIO and the Khatta Gola proved to be quite the hit on the 1st afternoon of DAM!

- Arindam Mohanty

SIMC honours Star Alumni at DAM ‘09

On the opening day of the DigitAll Movement (DAM) 2009, two alumni from the Batch of 1996, Monika Shergill – Creative Director & Supervisor of Star One and Yash Patnaik, CEO of production house Beyond Dreams Entertainment Ltd were honoured with the Star Alumni award for outstanding contribution to their respective fields and bringing laurels to their alma mater.

Ms. Shergill and Mr. Patnaik with their fascination for the audio-visual medium are able forerunners in today’s digital revolution. The-then Symbiosis Institute of Journalism and Communication campus in Senapati Bapat Road was the venue where they learnt with passion about an industry, considered an ‘odd’ choice at the time.

After her stint at Symbiosis, Monica Shergill had assisted in conducting research for a Penguin publication for two months. Following that, she moved to Miditech, Delhi as electronic correspondent which marked her shift to audio visual media. Now, as the Creative Director and Supervisor of Star One channel, she still considers herself to be learning the tricks of the trade.

Yash Patnaik' with his wife Mamta founded the production house Beyond Dreams Entertainment Ltd that produces The Monika Mogre case files currently being aired on Zee TV, a far cry from his first job in the Maharashtra Herald. His creature horror film ‘Kaalo’ is also being readied for release.

The two alumni, while awed with the knowledge and clear-mindedness of today’s students, feel that youngsters should explore new options without concentrating on achieving success. “Take the long road to success that allows one to make mistakes and learn from them”, is Monica Shergill’s message to aspiring media professionals with Yash Patnaik reiterating the need to strike the right balance between passion and marketing by not be bothered about job profiles and learning from every experience.

- Devika Gupta & Keerat Kaur

Gaurav Jani is ‘Riding Solo to the Top of the World’

As part of the events on Day 1 of the DigitAll Movement 2009, the journey of Gaurav Jani and his one-man film unit chronicled in the documentary film Riding Solo to the Top of the World was screened for the public at 6.30 pm. The movie produced by DirtTrack Productions is an over view of Gaurav Jani’s bike trip from Delhi to the Changthang Plateau in the Karakoram Range, from where he takes off on a ride of spiritual revelation to Chemur. This solo adventure of Gaurav Jani that becomes a universal experience of celebration and self-recognition was captured by himself in his Panasonic DVX 100.
As the entire movie was directed and shot by Mr. Gaurav Jani himself, which in itself is one of the prime highlights of the film, camera-handling and diverse technical settings were restricted. Most of the shots used to show the bike ride were still camera images and long shots. Mr. Jani’s interaction with the Changpas of the Changthan area, which he described as the “Cathedral of Silence” in his film, and his rather special interaction with the Changpa Sehwang has also been discretely portrayed. “An experience recommended to all”, said Gaurav Jani during the interactive session that took place after the screening.
“A good while after working as the Assistant Director for Ram Gopal Varma in the movie Jungle, I started considering co-joining two of my fondest passions of biking and filmmaking to create a video that was one of a kind”, remarked Gaurav Jani.
Mr. Jani’s next film “One Crazy Ride” is also a bike adventure of a group of five, travelling through the most rugged and difficult roads to the hidden, unknown parts of India.

- Vinaya Gopaal

Luke Kenny at DAM with its directorial debut The 13th Floor

Probably the most awaited session of the day, the workshop with Luke Kenny did not disappoint the crowd. Interactive from the moment he walked into the screening hall, Luke, as he asked us to call him, was visibly delighted to be at SIMC.

The session began with the screening of his debut and only movie ‘The 13th Floor’. Set in modern Mumbai, the movie dwells on the co-incidences and improbable meetings in elevators amidst a power cut across the state of Maharashtra. A tad on the longer side, this 80 minute ‘feature film’ is probably not one of the technically strongest movies and could have been edited in a better manner. Even so, it is good one-time watch with an intriguing storyline.

The interactive session, however, moved beyond the movie and Luke answered questions about his personal and professional life. He spoke about how he decided to turn to direction and DJ-ing because it allowed him to be in ‘creative control’. He also emphasized the need for every student of cinema to make a movie that they could show to the producer so that they would know what to expect on hiring them. While speaking about digital movies, he explained how it would be the Next Big Thing for Indian filmmakers willing to experiment with different stories and themes as it was cheaper and more convenient to use.

Perhaps the entire crux of the session was summed up when Luke quoted Quentin Tarantino, “If you have the money to go to a good movie school, then make a movie instead”.

- Akashi Kaul

DAM Fest Open: 2nd International DigitAll Movement begins at SIMC

The lush 300-acre campus at Symbiosis Knowledge Village in Lavale witnessed the inaugural ceremony of the 2nd international digital entertainment festival. Organized by the students of Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, DigitAll Movement (DAM 09) which began today will culminate with a red carpet ceremony three days hence.

Filmmaker Kunaal Roy Kapur (The President is Coming) declared the 3-day fest open with the clapperboard. Talking about the nascent stage of digital filmmaking in India, Kapur said that going digital is the way ahead for future generations. He highlighted the strengths offered by the digital medium in terms of creative liberty, usability and economic viability.

Advocating the use of new media for film promotion and distribution was Rajjat Barjatya, the young enterprising scion of Rajshri Media. “The online revolution has benefited content providers, producers, exhibitors and consumers in a huge way,” he said. Barjatya is credited with the release of Vivaah, both online and in cinemas, simultaneously.

Dibaker Banerjee – who was an obvious hit with the crowd with popular favourites like Khosla Ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye in his kitty – spoke passionately about the potential of the digital medium. He however insisted that that the cost effectiveness of the medium should not result in trivial content production. “Use digital technology to make a unique production,” he said.

The occasion lent itself to elicit some nostalgic moments when Monika Shergill, creative director of Star One and Yash Patnaik, CEO of Beyond Dreams Entertainment Ltd. – SIMC alumnus from the 1996 batch – were awarded with the Star Alumni Award.

Industry Experts at DAM fest '09

The DigitAll Movement provides an interface for "Amateur" (a very relative and debatable term) filmmakers and "Professionals" (as controversial a term as 'amateur') filmmakers and industry-wallahs.

As our generation is constantly reminded of by our older acquaintances, our lives are so much adasdadasfsf fsfhyjh dg ergrgh sfsgtrthgrhf sfsdfrgegdgd..(that is how the tirade sounds like when you are humming your favourite tune or thinking about the feast you will devour later for dinner)

Jokes apart, creative expression has become more interesting and its materialisation far more convenient. At DAM fest '09, we celebrate the digital medium that has made this possible for us. And this is not restricted to just cinema. It is about New Media Art, Digital Photography, Digital Music and what-not. There is so much happening in this digital media industry that keeping tabs is a herculean task.

So, at the DAM fest, we have arranged interactive sessions with industry experts revolving around a plethora of topics so that you do not lose out on the prevalent and probable trends.

1) INTERACTIONS WITH:
Prahlad Kakkar, Advertising Guru
Madhur Bhandarkar, Filmmaker (Chandni Bar, Fashion, Traffic)

2) THE DIGITAL BUSINESS: DIGITAL THEATRE REVOLUTION
Speakers:
Dibakar Banerjee - Director of 'Khosla ka Ghosla' and 'Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye'

Kunal Roy Kapur - Director of 'The President is Coming'

Dr. Sunil Patil - Scrabble Entertainment, the only Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) compliant deployment entity in India that has installed digital cinema systems in 40 multiplex screens(C)

Rajat Barjatya - Managing Director of Rajshri Media

3) FILM AS CATALYST FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
Speakers:
Anand Patwardhan - Documentary filmmaker and activist

Rajeev Masand - Film critic on CNN-IBN

K. Hariharan - Director of LV Prasad Film and Television Academy

4) DIGITAL GOES REGIONAL
Speakers:
Bipin Nadkarni - Ad-filmmaker and Marathi filmmaker (Uttarayan - Journey to the Other Side)

Ringo - Bengali filmmaker

V. K Prakash - Bengaluru-based filmmaker who made the 1st digital Malayalam film 'Moonammathoral' and is set to make a feature film in Kannada. Also directed 'Freaky Chakra'

Haboam Paban Kumar - Documentary filmmaker. His work, AFSPA 1958, received accolades at the 6th Karachi International Film Festival 2006, John Abraham Film Festival 2006 in Kerala, the Mumbai International Film Festival and in the 10th Islamia International Film Festival of Egypt in 2006.

K. Hariharan - National Award-winning tamil film director and Director of LV Prasad Film & TV Academy

5) ANIMATION, SFX & ITS BUSINESS IN INDIA
Speakers:
Gitanjali Rao - Independent animator and illustrator who has won awards for her film 'Printed Rainbow'

Arnab Chaudhari - Making his directorial debut with UTV Productions' 'Arjun' this year

Joy Mukherjee - Creative Director of Zee International, an expert in special effects

Throughout Feb 1-3, the digital medium beckons you to the Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication.
For further details, visit http://www.thedamfest.com/ or e-mail register@thedamfest.com.

Love at First Sight with Cinema

Talk. Jabber. Blabber. Chatter. Rant. Gibber. Prattle. Blether. Burble. Natter. Drone On.
It is largely an unacknowledged fact that gossip is a great stress buster. Ask any woman or more importantly, any man who will vehemently deny until his last breath, the human male species’ natural proclivity for “information-sharing”.
And that social activity is what we do when we get enough time to breathe and talk shop with fellow filmmakers. Grumbling over the fact that filmmaking doesn’t pay...Bashing up a new film...Arguing over choice of actors...Debating the need for censorship...et cetera et cetera..
Helps a lot to know that you are not the only “unemployed” wanna-be filmmaker who wonders how his life would have been if he had taken the cushy job his engineering degree had offered him. Moments of doubt tempered with clouds of regret.
In such bursts of vicissitude, one forgets the newness of the relationship with the filmmaking process. The first time you held the camera and you could sense that it fitted, that it would be your extended eye for the decades to follow...the time when you watched a movie with friends and thought all the while, “I know I could do this better” and went ahead to prove it. The sense of achievement you felt at the age of seven when you imitated your loud neighbour and your mother did not admonish you because she was busy laughing with awe.
Recall the first moment you looked beyond the line of vision. Bask in the spotlight.
And here’s a secret prayer of thanks that you are where you wanted to be.

The new generation mobile film maker

Emerging technologies have certainly made life entertaining. The long queue in front of theatres and lack of time will no longer dissuade you from watching films, your favourite hobby, as it will be right there, in your pockets, in your mobile phone and captured using the same medium.

Mobile phones have now become the latest outlet for those creative minds that had hitherto been restricted by technical and financial constraints. Be it a birthday party or a college function, owners of every mobile phone equipped with a camera captures videos but few take it beyond just documenting an event.

With technologically advanced mobiles entering the market, capturing feature length films have become easier. Marcello Mencarini and Barbara Seghezzi from Italy claimed to have made the first feature-length documentary titled New Love Meeting in 2006 using a mobile phone. The 93 minutes documentary was completely shot using a Nokia N90.

India, as always, is not far behind in adopting new trends especially when it comes to film-making. Recently, a team of two, Satheesh Kalathil and Sujith made a 25-minute mobile documentary Veenavadanam. They are now in the process of making a full-length film called Jalachayam.

Though many argue that this type of filmmaking will mar the quality of the product with lack of technical finesse, it is widely accepted that it is the most convenient mode of film making for the fast moving generation. Like the famed film festivals, there has also been mobile film making competitions in the past. In 2006, Discovery Channel in collaboration with Nokia had launched the Mobile Film Makers Award. Then, there was the Nokia-Whistling Woods Mobile Film Contest in 2007. The newest in the league is the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication in Pune that will host the digital entertainment festival, DigitAll Movement (DAM) from February 1-3. “We have tapped in on this latest trend and included a segment called ‘On the Spot Mobile Film Contest’ where participants will have to shoot a film using mobile phones and upload it on a computer”, explains Shagufta Ahmed, coordinator of the event.

“Now it isn't necessary to have expensive equipment to make a film. The mobile is a relatively easy and cheap medium for showcasing talents of a new breed of creative thinkers. All you need is your mobile phone and your imagination and voila, you have your film!” says Divya Nair, a Mass Communication student from the Mumbai University. Competitions like DAM certainly give these youngsters the confidence and a platform that allows possibilities like never before.

With technology and people constantly on the move, mobiles have revolutionised the communication. With films being captured on this device, the revolution has reached its zenith. The new generation of mobile filmmakers is all geared up. Their success stories are just a click away!
-Sajna Menon

THE COMEBACK

Who would have thought that a chicken could symbolise a strong motivated person who achieves her goals despite all obstacles? Well that is the story of The Running Chicken screened at the Digital All Movement (DAM) festival last January. Organized by the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, DAM saw a plethora of movies screened from different parts of the world and the country. There were films from different walks of life, depicting different aspects of the human mind. The movies were categorized into fiction, non fiction, animation and special effects.

Socially relevant issues like child prostitution, perils of widows, Pune traffic, autism and the efforts gone in chasing Angelina Jolie during her stay in Pune for “A Mighty Heart” were a part of the non fiction entries. There were movies that spoke about Subramania Siva the freedom fighter in Thangal Anbulla, and some like Mudcake by Gautam Chhabra that depicted the story of Junta Colony in Chandigarh.

A large number of entries came from Beacon House University in Lahore, Pakistan. Of which, Rosh -e- Mehshr showed the myriad issues of insanity, torture, salvation and Too Close to Home by Khurram Mugal depicted the story of two boys about to violate the chastity of a girl.
There were also films which depicted the simple joys of life. A Gift of Art was one such film where two painters decide to complete a painting and Maya which talks about the schizophrenic tendencies that arise out of loneliness in a nine year old girl.

Under the animation category there were movies like Lip Jokes and Hnugli. Lip Jokes from Slovenia spoke about blond girls, while Hnugli by Hjalti Hjálmarsson from Iceland revealed the attributes of various movie genres, portrayed through a beaver.

Under the special effects category there was The Comeback by Abhinav Tripathi and Janani by Siddhrath Gautam Singh. While the former shows the perfect comeback to rhetorical questions the latter tries to marry various myths about the creation of the universe to the idea of motherhood and childbirth and looks at God the Creator as a woman.

This year the DAM Fest promises bigger surprises for film buffs and fans of the digital media. DAM has move beyond films to cover everything digital. This includes digital photography, art and music and workshops on the same.
The movement has begun.
-Devina Sengupta