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Size doesn’t matter!
I love short films. They’re perfect for when you’re in the mood to watch a film but don’t have the time. Hell, I even try to catch a couple here and there during the day at work. Sadly, the market for short films is just not there with the masses. Unless a Darna Mana Hai or Darna Zaroori Hai comes along with Ramu’s banner behind it, the audience won’t care much for it. But that’s just another reason I’m obsessed with Ramu :) I digress. This is not a post about Ramu.. calm down striker…
Short films can be just as challenging to make as a feature film, if not more. Feature films have a 2hr (or more) luxury time in which to captivate the audience. In some cases, even if the first half isn’t good, the second half can make up for it. The vice versa is rarely true, since the climax needs to have the audience feeling satisfied, and if this doesn’t happen, they come out of the theater hating you for leaving a bad taste in their mouth. If we’re talking the Hindi film industry, and more specifically, your typical Bollywood masala, songs can also be an escape route to make an otherwise bad movie seem good. (Note: We need to come up with a list of movies that are horrible, but are a success because of their songs. We all know they exist!)
Short films on the other hand, need to captivate the viewer right at the title credits and keep the viewer glued constantly over a span of 15-30mins and keep them wanting for more. No easy task by any means. Having produced one and acted in several others, I know of the challenges one goes through to make one, and I have just as much respect for short filmmakers as I do for feature filmmakers.
The market for short films is limited, however, since most of them do the festival circuit for a while and disappear into oblivion. So why are they made? Most of them are made by filmmakers for the purpose of honing their filmmaking skills, entering them into a competition in the hopes of winning it, and going on to bigger and better things from there, if things work out. In the process, they might network and meet other like-minded filmmakers and technicians and make more films, so it’s a payoff in the longer run. Some fortunate ones whose shorts win at the bigger festivals tend to get deals for bigger films. And others make short films for the sole purpose of pitching it to an investor in hopes of them biting for the project, and getting to make a full-length version of their short. Others solely make a short film because they don’t have the budget to make a feature, or are not interested in making a feature at all.
All that said, where can one watch short films to their heart’s content? What happens to some of them after festivals? In this post, I’d like to analyze these questions and also highlight a few good short films I’ve seen, and the filmmakers behind them. Additionally, I’ll also provide information on where you can maybe see it. Hopefully some of you can add more to the list, and provide a link or a festival where they can be seen.
Let’s start with a relatively unkown short film, made by a friend, Surendra Hiwarale, who currently lives in Mumbai and works for Ramgopal Varma’s Factory as an assistant director. Surendra goes by the nickname Surya, and has visited PFC a couple of times to leave comments. I’ve been pestering him to come on the site more, but the bugger won’t listen. Here’s hoping this article will make him frequent the site more. Surya best falls under the category of those who make films “for the purpose of honing their filmmaking skills, entering them into a competition in the hopes of winning it, and going on to bigger and better things from there.”
0:0PM
Director: Surendra Hiwarale
Cast: Dadhi Pandey, Murari, Ravi Kale
Running Time: 14mins
Synopsis: 0:0 PM gives us an insight into the lives of two friends, Chandu and Mohan, who work as Post Mortem (PM) servants. The job has taken its toll on Mohan. He is completely dependent on alcohol and unable to work without it! Chandu realizes the risks his friend faces and counsels him to stay away from alcohol and take precautions against various infections they all are vulnerable for. On the other hand, Mohan ventilates his feelings as to how he is being ill treated and not taken care of by his people back home. Mohan’s health deteriorates and has no choice now but to stay at home. Chandu on the other hand, keeps his daily routine going only to come face to face with the horrifying truth of where this profession can lead…
My review: I REALLY liked this film. When I found out that Surya had made this short film about PM servants, it struck me as an odd and unheard of topic, and wanting to see it, I asked him to mail it to me. Two weeks later, as I sat in my living room watching it, I knew this film needed to be seen. Surya takes a morbid subject which had been his research topic back in Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and created this short 14min narrative about what a PM servant goes through in his everyday job and how it affects his life. Talk about the cons of a job! Cutting open dead bodies everyday for a living and bottling up their contents ain’t easy, and one can only imagine the toll this kind of work takes on a person’s soul and sanity. You can really see Ramu’s filmmaking style evident in Surya’s. He adequately uses his shots, sound and lighting to showcase Chandu’s inner plight. If only he had a bigger budget, I’m sure he could’ve done wonders. The artists have all performed very well (Ravi Kale, well known as Big B’s right hand man in Sarkar, looks different here with hair), and the background score by Salim Merchant deserves a special mention. NOTE: This movie is NOT for the squeamish! There is a shot of a REAL dead body being cut open.
Where can you watch it? It recently played at the IAAC film festival in New York, and also the Karachi International Film Festival . I’ll find out if Surya plans on submitting it to more festivals, and will provide an update shortly. Additionally, I’ll ask him if I can upload it online as I’m sure PFC viewers would love to watch it.
Additional Notes: For more details, and to read about the pains Surya went through to make this film, visit this Upperstall.com article.
On to a slightly “bigger” short film, whose filmmaker falls under the category of “fortunate ones whose shorts win at the bigger festivals” and “tend to get deals for bigger films.” This film was nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the Oscars in 2005 (yes, yes we all hate the Oscars and all award ceremonies, but because English is the universal language, and the Oscars actually have a category where they recognize world cinema, the Academy Awards are regarded as the most “universal” ceremony, and I will stand behind a South Asian filmmaker who even gets nominated. When was the last time Filmfare gave a “best short film” award? ‘nuf said.) This one also won a bunch of first place prizes at various film festivals, and Ashvin Kumar has since landed deals with Judith James and Richard Dreyfuss’ production company to make The Forest. I was surprised to see that Javed Jaffrey has replaced Irrfan Khan (according to IMDB anyway), especially since Irrfan and Ashvin had built up a rapport from their Road to Ladakh days.
Little Terrorist
Director: Ashvin Kumar
Cast: Julfuqar Ali, Sushil Sharma, Megnaa Mehtaa
Running Time: 15mins
Synopsis (courtesy, IMDB): Jamal, a 10-year-old Pakistani Muslim, mistakenly crosses the border between India and Pakistan and finds an unusual ally in a Hindu Brahmin, Bhola. Indian soldiers descend on Bhola’s village searching for the so-called terrorist who crossed over. Bhola’s neice, Rani, insists they can’t let a Muslim into their Hindu home. With Bhola and Rani grappling with the consequences of harboring a Pakistani and their deep-set prejudice against Muslims, Jamal’s only hope is the humanity shared by a people separated by artificial boundaries a long time ago.
My review: When was the last time fetching your cricket ball from the other side of the fence turned into an adventure? This simple story is beautifully told thru its performances, cinematography and editing, and makes for a must-watch. With very credible performances by Julfuqar Ali, a street kid from the Salaam Baalak Trust (founded by Mira Nair post-Salaam Bombay), Sushil Sharma, and Megnaa Mehtaa, the film weaves its way through the deserts of Rajasthan in search of an accidental crossover “terrorist” in the form of a 10-yr old Jamal. How Bhola and his niece Rani hide him from the authorities and get him back into safe territory forms the crux of the story. Looking forward to more from you, Ashvin.
Where you can watch it? It used to be available on demand at WahIndia, but not anymore. Even Netflix doesn’t seem to have it. Your best bet would be to visit the Little Terrorist site and order yourself a DVD. Believe me, it’s worth it! The DVD not only contains the short, but also a very insightful “making of” feature, along with Ashvin Kumar’s earlier featurette, Road to Ladakh, and its “making of”. As a bonus feature, it also contains a behind-the-scenes look at the Cannes Film Festival with Irrfan and Ashvin. A cool addition for any cine-fanatic’s collection.
When did a short film spawn a series that turned into a franchise and became synonymous with the word ‘cha-ching’? This next short film falls under the category of being a pitch to an investor, and WOW did that investor bite! Not many may know that this film started out as a short film, but in time would gross almost $230 million by the time the trilogy ended. To be precise: $55.15m for the first, $87.03m for the second, and $80.15m for the third. And leaving room for a fourth in the series? Hook, line, and sinker. Get those registers ready. It’s time to take in the collections, and Lionsgate will only be too happy to take an armored car over to the bank. Oh, and did I mention those figures (courtesy: boxofficereports.com) are just the domestic ones?
SAW
Director: James Wan
Cast: Leigh Wannell (also the writer), Paul Moder
Running Time: 10mins
Synopsis: A teenager who is able to escape the clutches of “Jigsaw”, his captor, on the basis of not being grateful to be alive, recounts his story to a cop.
My review: When I found out that the secret behind this twisted, yet successful series of SAW films is a short film, I was pissed as to why this wasn’t more publicized, or even shown at the end of the first movie. I guess they wanted to wait and put it on the DVD. Regardless, this 10min horror tale keeps you on the edge of your seat thanks to seamless editing by James Wan himself, and invites the sick ‘n twisted people out there to take a peek into the world of gore and catch-22 situations. I’m sorry, but who gives a rat’s ass about performances when you’ve got a story like this? All that remains to be asked is: Would you kill yourself to live?
Where can you watch it? It’s available on the ‘Saw’ DVD, but if you don’t want to buy the DVD to watch it, here it is for your convenience.
Here is the youtube link.
Though IFC and Sundance Channel (amongst others) have their own respective sites where people can upload short films, I have found TriggerStreet.com to be THE place to view an extensive collection of short films. Founded by Hollywood A-lister Kevin Spacey himself in 2002, the website soon became a haven for all budding artists and filmmakers who registered on the site to upload their short films in hopes of it being seen and reviewed by people all over the world. According to their About Us page, their mission “is to encourage the creative process of filmmaking and screenwriting by providing hands on, peer-to-peer, objective criticism and letting the material be judged on its own merit.” And as you can see from their enormous collection of films over the years, they’re doing a fine job in letting the work speak for itself. I would highly suggest all short filmmakers to register on the site and upload their own short films. And let PFC know when you have, so we can keep an eye out for them! In the meantime, Mr. Spacey, if you’re reading this, please come aboard PFC :) [one PFC plug never hurt anyone]
So the next time you come across a short film and you think “boring” or “not interested”, THINK AGAIN. Short films may be short in length, but certainly not quality. When it comes to films, size doesn’t matter!
28 Responses to “Size doesn’t matter!”
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i’ve heard about Little Terrorist; it got a lot of media attention when it was released. Wasn’t Little Terrorist nominated for Oscar…?
Gr8 post striker! The short film circuit in mumbai is rocking and happening. Little terrorist is a well made film. There is a beautiful short film called ‘Right here right now’ which is over twenty minutes long but with just one cut. Its by a guy called Anand something.I forgot the last name. Another short film which has won several awards including the national award is ‘Girni’. I haven’t seen it but have heard rave reviews about it.
HG: Yes. LT was nominated for the oscars.
So Chaitanya, are you guys planning to make short films or another documentary?
And b-t-w Striker, when you guys going to enroll for that 48hrs (short film) competition?
HG, no idea about next film. No funds! Thats why slogging my ass in tlevision to earn money for next film. There is this channel called ‘zoom’. They have offered work to us. Let’s see. One more good thing which happened lately is, that a hindi films ka cinematographer was very impressed with the docu, and has offered us his super 8 (or 16, god knows) camera for our next film, free of cost. Earlier we had this tacky hi8 sony camera, so I was very sceptical about shooting a short film. Again, there has to be a genuine idea for a short film. I know so many people who make short films for the heck of it. They say , “chalo short film banaate hai” and then cook up a concept. I feel it has to be the other way round. So I wait until an idea strikes,an idea precisely for a short film. :)
Striker, like you, I love shorts. A truly good short does a phenomenal job in a very limited amount of time. And a few lucky ones get used as a calling card for greater things.
Nice job pulling out a couple that fit that bill and showcasing them.
Hey Chaitnya, I have seen that film…by Anand. I think about 2 years back or so…and he got some award for that also…cafe mocha has a film club and there they had screened it. It was damn good…done in a very intersting way.
LITTLE TERRORIST is available on google videos,GIRNI is beatiful film made by aFTTI graduate,even manish jhas AVERY VERY SILENT FILM which won the CANNES award is good.
His name is Anand Gandhi. Girni is by Umesh Kulkarni.
Raghu thanks for that. A decent short film. I love marwari accent.
And Chaitanya… good luck for gathering funds for your…
Striker, thats a good post buddy!
The short films most people make have a very different set up I assume. Most of film makers do not have luxury of having good actors like Irfan or Ravi Kale. Some even do not have the luxury of sycnh sound, so the entire film is silent…Working with 3-4 unit members, who also take up the lead roles, without any professional lighting, any generators, any trained cameraman, any trained actors,any….using old beaten up film camera.. thats the real fun of making short films!.. They just feel so refreshing even with few techinical fuck-ups, which can be understandingly ingnored..The one very good point about the shorts it that its pure passion, without any worry of box office result, so no hindrance from any corner.. people like to watch shorts and student films for the sole reason, which is not there in most of the feature lenght films.
I liked Manish Jha’s Matrabhoomi, thats one feature, which is very very bold and very passionately made. I was surprised that such films could be made in our country..Looking forward for his next feature Anwar coming out tomorrow! Its surely gonna be a different ride alltogether, lets hope so.
Superb post Striker…I watched Little Terrorist about 2-3 years back and was impressed a hell lot with it….The Indo-Pak connection the little boy loosing his hair and then his mom bashing him up for cutting his hair…was a cute lil movie…not to mention wher the girl feeds him rotis…Thnaks for bringing this topic out…If no one recognises these kinda movies…PFC does…
chaitanya, shripriya, manjeet, OM: thanks! i feel short films are a sort of bastard child too.. and the great ones often go unnoticed.
raghu, thanks for the info on LT on google video. here’s the link for anyone that wants to watch it:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7310473179454725496&q=little+terrorist
chaitanya, you reminded me of another anand who made this really cool little short film titled “no exit” about a girl who calls up a credit card company, only for the call to turn into a nightmare. check it out here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2911544480914462198&q=anand+no+exit
our very own shripriya made a nice little short film you can watch on her site as well :)
Hey striker, the anand u mention is different.This guy is Anand Alagappan and the one I mentioned is Anand Gandhi.
yup.. that’s why i said ‘another’ anand.. this one (alagappan) is different.. he lives in new jersey
Striker - Thanks for this post. In my half-finished drafts folder, I have a draft on why I love short films, and how watching short films has changed me and how I watch film. You nailed many of the points here. I am lucky enough to get to see a few a week, and it is truly an unappreciated art form.
Through my work with shorts filmmakers, I have also found that many of them make short films for no other reason than they love making them, not to shop them for funding to turn into features or to make a name for themselves. I hope that someday this genre will get the recognition that independent films have found over the last few years.
And, while bashing the Oscars is soooo easy (and, I am at the front of the line with the biggest brickbat), I do think that when it comes to the technical and “smaller” awards, the committes do a good job at recognizing the best.
Thank you for these links!!!
striker: Fantastic post! In the case of your post too “size didn’t matter”…
Hey Striker Boy,
Thanks a lot for mentioning my short film, and extremely sorry for not being here regularly as u have been asking me to do so often. But let me promise you, hence orth i will try to come here as often as i can and share my likings, dislikings and frustrations here with everybody. I have seen ashwins ‘the little terrorist’, and i believe there is somebody making a remake of saw in hindi… And what about Kabul express???? Did u see it???? I did, and i felt that kabir d have done much more as he was handling such a sexy topic. Unfortunately he played safe by not touching the hard core political issue afghans are facing, maybe that was not his intention to do so. But but but, nonetheless i think its one of the best films to come from the yashraj camp as i think its any day better than fanaa & dhoom 2. Dhoom 2 i think the award should should go to Hritik Roshans stylist as whoever he or she is has really done a good job as hritik looks oh la la ‘HOTCh’. Ok ok ok no need to doubt my tendencies… my friend has highly recommended happy feet… u seen it???? casino royale was good, so was good year, the prestige ne toh dimaag ka dahi bana ke choda, swear man….
Hey man,
Where have u disappeared??? You managed to get me here and yourself are missing????
surya, haven’t disappeared bro.. sending you an email. pls check. since you have worked as an AD on nishabd, we’d like you to write your detailed account on it, if you’re up for it. oz will set you up with an account.. see email for details..
Striker - awesome! Thanks for sharing. And now I know who strong armed Surya into writing on PFC. Thanks again. Speaking about shorts, what’s happened to your promised *series* of Monday monologues? Looking forward to seeing more of you on PFC/youtube.
I just saw Asif Kapadia’s ‘The Sheep Theif’. I liked watching it but I did not get it 8-|
http://www.channel4.com/player/v2/player.jsp?showId=734
And they have got other short films as well:
http://www.channel4.com/film/shortsandclips/shorts.html
ever since this discussion.. i have been thinking about making a short film, but….
i recently, erm, since last night i started pondering about the NV-Drug idea again. And I thought about coming up with a short film idea. It took me whole night to figure out the rough idea of what 4-5 min short film should look like. I had the starting and middle bit before I went to sleep, but it was in wee hours of the morning the ending came to me mind.
Anyway,…..
(I am just roughly going to tell you the story.)
Dopey, a sixteen year old boy, was coming back home from school in a typical London winter evening. He opens the door and says, “Fucking back to the prison, eh Dopey?” He takes off his shoes and jacket, then runs to his room. He quickly locks his room, puts music on, turns PC on and closes the curtains, so it is completely dark in the room. Then he consumes LSD and stares at the computer screen for a bit. After that he starts hallucinating that he is in the driving seat of the world’s fastest car Bugatti Veyron. Puts music on and starts driving at a speed. Quickly he builds up the speed to near 400km/h. He is driving in straight line.. after few kilometers the road breaks up and there is a slight upward slope which causes the car to shoot up in the air/sky very high and far. Dopey, is quite relaxed - he puts his feet up, starts smoking a cig. and says, “This is fucking Life!” Then suddenly the car starts to descend - he is coming back to the reality. The car hits - bang! and he falls of the chair, and says: “Why the fuck life has to be short?!”
The End
In that dark room bit I would want to use night vision camera to capture the image. And whatever he is hallucinating showed by using animation which looks quite real and convincing, but the character Dopey - would be real. So would take the night-vision Dopey character image and…… Do you get it?
So what do you all think:
Crap - I should forget about it? Not feasible? Or Okay and needs a bit of work?
Honhaar, thats quite imaginative actually.
We sense that this guys life is like a prison sentence.
Well, going home is anyway, so that sheds a bit of light as to why he takes drugs.
But for this kinda LSD feel, won’t you need a budget that will help us see from within the characters state of mind?
And also, does this film have a message?? Or is it just about ‘trippin’??:-?
The animation….would that be kinda like ‘A Scanner Darkly’?
That was real but unreal at the same time.. check it out m8.
Feedback any good??
It’s certainly not a crap idea, if you have a decent idea then pen it down. small story board maybe - because the vision in your head might be clear but for a short story it could go all wrong on paper.
There are posters here who have made short doco’s maybe they could advise better.
nah steve, no message; just for fun. i am trying to find a few people who are studying film media at my uni and from then on…
Striker, thanks for the LT link. I had not seen before it and I really enjoyed watching that.
Some short films are really good but I only get the chance to watch them at festivals. I saw a very funny French one last October: Le D
sorry for the delayed response guys.. major PFC backlog to go thru..
wb, thanks and thanks again for requesting the MM :) it’ll be back soon, i promise.. i’m lacking some equipment which i need to purchase before i’m back in action.. i’m missing them just as much as you are!
HG, definitely don’t give up on your idea man.. go for it! carpe diem. make something outta that idea while you have it strong in your mind. it does need to be developed however, and i think some friendly nudging on PFC can definitely help you develop it more. if you’re just wanting to do it for timepass purposes, that’s cool too.. whatever floats your boat! thanks also for the links you passed on.. much appreciated.
monica, glad to be of help. raghu did mention that it was on google video to begin with, so i can’t take all the credit for it. i just typed it in the search box :) will have to keep an eye out for le diner.. thanks!
Hey everyone!! I’m new here, and love writing screenplays….I don’t have any training really, but have DEVOURED Syd Field (who hasn’t eh?)…so was wondering if anyone could help me out in getting them filmed/sold/whatever?? I’m a full-time law student, so I never get the time to do anything with my screenplays…..anyone game?? If anyone’s interested, i’ll post a few excerpts…pleeeeeeeeze lemme know!!