Two-day filmy getaway for Lucknowites

Cinephiles made their way to attend the two-day Short Film Festival Season 2, organized by Lucknowite Renuka Tandon as part of the Lucknow Film Forum. On the first day, politician Rita Bahuguna Joshi graced the inauguration ceremony. The highlight of the day was a special screening of Jyoti Kapur Das’ short film Good Morning starring Neha Dhupia. The screening was followed by a session with Jyoti, who spoke about various aspects to keep in mind while writing a short film.

Following that was the screening of Ratnaa Sinha’s movie, Ishq Ho Gaya, starring Akshay Oberoi and Ashnoor Kaur. Ratnaa and Akshay thanked Renuka for inviting them to Lucknow and reminisced about their previous visits to the city.
Navneet Sehgal, Chairman of Prasar Bharati, the chief guest of the evening, felicitated the jury members, the advisory committee and the core team, along with others.

On the second day of the event, the film Dvaita: Duality by Rak Avata and Sanjeev Verma, starring Shishir Sharma and Renita Kapoor, a Lucknow-based actor, was screened. After the movie, Shishir, Renita, and Sanjeev engaged in a Q&A session where they spoke about the film and how it was made.

Aditya Talwar, a VFX and animation artist, who has worked on films like The Lego Movie and Happy Feet, gave a detailed talk about the importance of VFX in the film industry. Later, an insightful panel discussion on IPR, featuring Lohita Sujith, Jamshed Mistry, and Renuka Tondon, provided the audience with valuable insights. It was followed by a session on cinematography by Heeramandi fame actor Mark Bennington, in which he delved into the art of using a camera and spoke about developing an eye for capturing moments. Nivedita Bhargava, another actor from Heeramandi and a Lucknowite, then took the stage for an enchanting talk, sharing her journey from Awadh to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s sets.

The most anticipated segment of the evening was the winners’ award ceremony. Presented by Mark Bennington, Dhiraj Meshram, dean of films, FTII Pune, Renuka Tandon and Ambrish Tandon, in the Best Film category, Marmaram won the first place prize, with Asylum as the first runner-up and Wanted Mr. Rasa as the second runner-up. The Best Documentary award was given to Myzrab, directed by Swarnayu Maitra. The Best Actor award was given to Shishir Sharma for his role in Dvaita.

The fest concluded with the play Kuch Panne by Seema Bhargava Pahwa and Mayank Pahwa, who portrayed two heartwarming stories, Saag Meat and Gango Ki Jaya.
— Manas Mishra