WINNER, SHORT FILM OF THE YEAR

OFFICIAL SELECTION

SEMI-FINALIST

The biggest strength of 'Tower' lies in the approach and tonality it adopts to share the narrative. The narrative itself, it should be noted, offers an impactful conversation around a serious environmental concern, using a very unlikely circumstance - the love story of a cow herder in a corner of rural India. 


While we may have established the protagonist's location to be a 'rural corner', thanks to the rampant spread of technological advances, even this small village is seeing its fair share of change in the form of cellular services and their accompanying towers.  


Parshuram, or as he is better known in his village, Phalya,  spends the majority of his time either in the fields with his young friend, Jaygya (a naughty, Tinkerbell-esque presence), or navigating and admiring the beauty of birds in his vicinity. Every morning, as Phalya strolls through the expanse, a red bus stops to reveal to the audience his childhood crush, Manju, sitting by the window. Alongside Phalya and Manju's love story, another narrative is developing, one about the disappearance of birds from the former's village.  



After conversing for hours on phone calls, the two eventually decide to meet. Following the rendezvous and a conversation about Manju's academic matters, a startling and concerning revelation is made. As the protagonist chooses to to eradicate the root cause of the dwindling bird population, the constant push and pull between nature and technology is conjured for the viewer. In the process, the film raises a resounding question - have centuries of co-existence been disrupted beyond repair by the advent of modern technology and human activities? At the end of it all, the many elements of the plot are eventually tied together with a strangely heartwarming and uplifting message that ensures that the story concludes with a critical comment about the responsibility of each of us towards the world we live in, a statement that will stay with you long after you're done watching the film.

Tower | Short Film of the Year

As the title suggests, the film is a single man's voice that adopts a poetic approach to share the intentions of the narrative. Endowed with a lyrical quality, it is essentially a philosophical musing about life and existence. Thematic concerns span past, present and future, and thus, the nature and flow of time. It damns humans to being shells of hollowness, but then double backs to ask a pertinent question - is it truly possible for shells to feel heartache? Is it possible for a hunter to show kindness? And most importantly, is it possible for a survivor to emerge a winner? All of these thoughts are further coupled with visuals exhibiting skill and smoothness, to complete the final product as a comprehensive, cohesive whole.

The Last Monologue | Short Film of the Day

The short film adopts the interesting approach of deliberately taking the viewer in a direction far from where it is truly headed. In the process, it positions itself as a non-fiction narrative at first glance, only to conjure the fictive space of its characters, gradually revealing its cards one by one. 

As we are introduced to the many misadventures of a truck driver on Indian highways, the story comes into its own. Without making itself overbearing, the storytelling (albeit with a few rough edges) further conjures a near-philosophical tonality. Additionally, there is a sense of stolen intimacy in the visuals that develop, as if the viewer is eavesdropping on a conversation not meant for them. The protagonist, on the other hand, conceals a secret of his own from the audience, one which becomes the core underpinning of the narrative. It is thus in the unearthing of this little piece of information that the plot finally presents its primary motivation for you to engage with.

Lyrically Bleating Horns | Short Film of the Month

‘Spin’ is remarkable in the absurdity it brings to life. Three men, one night and their own sense of emptiness and unhappiness reflected in their faces constitute this world. A man returns from work, exhausted and spent, and sits down with his two flatmates for a strange game they seem to have developed themselves. Is it coping? Is it something to kill time or forget about the futility of existence? Who even knows or cares, suggests the narrative as the characters before us start slapping each other, all along sticking to the rules of the game. 

The film makes efficient use of its resources, be it of space or other tools often required to tell an engaging story. Despite the humor inherent to a situation as ridiculous as the one developing before us, a sense of darkness follows too, ensuring you remain involved in the fates of the three men right till the very end.

Spin | Short Film of the Day

The short film exhibits some very beautiful and creatively executed visual transitions to tell the story of its protagonist, Savio, an assassin. As he prepares to head out for another day of work, planning his next murder, something unexpected awaits him. The visuals are constituted with several symbols and imagery linked to life, death and a search for the meaning of existence. They are plotted against a philosophical exploration of Dalai Lama's The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The book also comes to serve as the inspiration for much of the treatment of the story that plays out before the viewer. However, in a bid to experiment with its unpredictable and unique cinematography, the plot ends up becoming dense and vague. The film would have had more to gain if the narrative was a little less impenetrable.

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