Film festival for the young filmmakers!

Talk of young directors in cinema and here comes a film festival for the young, budding filmmakers!
Not only for those in India, but from Australia, France, Israel, England, Iran and Germany. At the first ever India International Youth Film Festival (IIYFF) – organised by an NGO called Faces – we saw young filmmakers, documentary makers, photographers and editors too.And guess what, almost all of them were in their 20s.
Chhoti Si Aasha: The focus of the Film Festival was on bringing talent to the forefront. “We want to bring forward the talent from the oblivion of financial and technological hiccups. We want to let people know that today, movies can be made with a small camera or a handycam. For that we will take this initiative to the rural areas too, to give the young talent there a platform,” said Lav Bhargava, chairman, India International Youth Film Festival, while explaining the motive of IIYFF. And to support the spirit of this festival, actors Tinnu Anand, Sumeet Sachdev, Saleem Shah and Virender Saxena were also present. Tinnu Anand said, “I’m going to watch all the movies made by these kids.” And Virender Saxena, at the closing ceremony, said, “I wasn’t even aware that such a festival is happening to promote these filmmakers. And now that I know, I’m proud to be a part of it.”
The right medium: “There are many issues on which we need to create awareness, and what better way than movies? People don’t react to anything as effectively as they do after watching a film,” said Lav Bhargava. Agreed Ashwini Abhyankar Ghaisas, whose short film conveyed how little kids of working mothers long for their moms throughout the day, “Aisi baatein ek movie dekh kar hi sab samajhtey hain.” The last day of the three-day fest was a moment of pride for all those young moviemakers who won accolades for their first movie. There were movies dealing with different issues – autism, sexual abuse, isolation, etc.
Spotted: Tinnu Anand, Sumeet Sachdev, Saleem Shah, Virender Saxena, Lav Bhargava, Mohd Rashid, M Malik
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