The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on society in several ways, be it financial, or in terms of health. It has completely shattered our notions of normalcy or what was once considered normative in terms of how we interacted with our professional and personal life. This has been caused by the complete blurring of the lines between the home and the world, and the documentary film is an engagement with the same thought. 

As the name suggests, it takes the viewer into the work-from-home lifestyle of a teacher, and delves into the several aspects of this change that the pandemic forced on her. While juggling household chores and her duties towards her students becomes a daily reality, the narrative invoked to communicate all of this remains controlled and quiet. It does not take shelter in any ornate devices or ostentation, or even spiral away its energy in a feverish fervour. This, in turn, becomes a decision that allows it to succeed at sharing not a story of grandeur and loftiness, but one marked by the mundane and everyday chores. 

Within its folds also lies a comment about the location of women in society where they straddle domesticity as well as the professional space in a manner that is not expected of men. In the process, the film offers an endearing, honest and sincere story, enabled and enhanced specifically by its tone and approach of subtlety and calmness.

Portrait of a Teacher  | Short Film of the Day

The short film is beautiful in terms of the pacing, the tone and the narrative it weaves using its visuals. Marked by seamlessness and sophistication, the poetry takes the viewer into a world of shadows which conceal some magical beings and all that they carry within themselves. The writing is notable and employs words smartly and poignantly to convey its intentions. The film is specifically relevant in contemporary times for it carries an important social message, urging the viewer to not forget to light up the lives of those we may have, knowingly or unknowingly, forced into oblivion and forgetfulness, especially during the pandemic. The communication is lucid, coherent, skilled, and manages to convey it all in a moving manner.

The Invisible Humans  | Short Film of the Month

The national lockdown following the coronavirus pandemic has ensured not only our physical confinement, but also a huge dampening of our moods and spirits. This video by Ritviz thus becomes a much-needed, endearing respite from it all. Made by compiling crowdsourced videos of different people dancing to the song in their homes, the video of Thandi Hawa offers a metaphorical ray of sunshine, complete with an adequate dose of effervescence and hope. Along with seamless and remarkable editing, it's further achieved by wonderful pacing and weaving together of disparate elements - from different dance forms to household shots and activities people have resorted to to amuse themselves while being quarantined. Overall, it is heartwarming and probably precisely the cheer you need to take your mind off the bleak uncertainty of our lives currently, even if for a little while.

Thandi Hawa | Ritviz | Short Film of the Day

The Last Order is a lockdown short that tries to grapple with and unravel a facet of the unprecedented, perplexing circumstances
we’re in. 
The film chooses a subject that evokes pity from all of us – lockdown birthdays. Whether you’re
an introvert or not, the thought of being forced to spend your birthday all alone, shut away from the world, is a unanimously
dreaded thought. 
A woman orders a food delivery on her birthday and doesn't pay heed to the safety measures. Such an oversight might be familiar for some of us for it is easy to give in to the false security of the pandemic not harming us, and that it won't hit us if we’re inside our house. However, soon
after, strange occurrences begin to happen one after the other in her life. Shadows and lights are employed to invoke an atmosphere of thrill and foreboding, raising the question at the heart of the narrative - will ordering food from outside during a pandemic prove to be a point of no return for the protagonist?

The Last Order | Short Film of the Day

The wait is the hardest for those who are left behind, and the narrative of the film indeed portrays the same in a poignant, beautiful manner. The entirety of it is in the form of an affectionate letter that a mother is writing to her child. It is only over a period of time that the contents reveal the true intent of the writer, as well as the circumstances of the person being addressed in it. The strongest aspect of the film is the soulful, seamless narration, with a close second in its cinematography, which serves as the viewer's sole relationship with the protagonist and her struggles. It is through these words that we are allowed to share and participate in her emotions, even if fleetingly, as well as the physical and emotional isolation she experiences in her son's absence. The plot also carries within it an important social message, reminding the viewer of their duty towards society, as a handful of us continue to wage a battle on the front lines of a pandemic that has the world tightly in its clutches.

Manan | Short Film of the Day

There are very few films in the independent space which have perfected the craft of the short film, and this one
is certainly one of those. It is based in a realistic film mode and yet, is wholly complete in itself, unlike projects that seem like part of a longer product. Everything one expects from a feature, is achieved by it. 
Kaanapedatha Malakhamar is a story of a father and his daughter, navigating their way during a pandemic. With each small interval,
the film brings the viewer new information which completes the picture, the larger vision. The art
direction is fantastic, the actors are most competent, the screenplay and cinematography are as good as
married to each other. With a form so evolved, the film still packs punches as larger social comments.
Highly impressive work.

Kaanapedatha Malakhamar | Short Film of the Day

Right from the beginning, the narrative comes across as being deeply unsettling, without giving any explicit reason for it, thereby making it all the more involving. It progresses to eventually reveal a harsh reality of verbal abuse that a boy is subjected to by presumably his father. By simply portraying this situation, the film draws to attention the issue of mental health among Indian students. Further, the lockdown that followed the coronavirus pandemic, exacerbated these pressures and stressors even more, suggests the plot. At the heart of the film is a reminder of the absolute importance of communication between parents, guardians and society on the whole, and how students might find themselves turning to the cruel voices inside if not allowed this channel. It is the expression of this concern that becomes the most notable aspect of the film.

Talk | Short Film of the Day

The film locates itself in a pandemic-stricken world where a woman struggles to ensure her daughter does not miss her online classes. A smartphone is absolutely imperative for these classes, but Shalini’s young daughter, Aami accidentally broke theirs. 

Now Shalini struggles between jobs, even at the cost of her own well-being, to ensure that she somehow puts enough money together for a new phone. In the process, not only does the narrative draw a very clear boundary between the haves and the have-nots, but it does so without letting itself get consumed by sentimentalism. Inherent to the narrative is also the idea of the many sadnesses that many of us carry within. 

If for someone it is the struggle to make ends meet, for another it is being stuck in an oppressive job where you can only nod and suffer in silence at the hands of a cruel boss, and for yet another, it is the longing and memory of a lost loved one. Aami, the little daughter, too notices the sacrifices her mother makes while putting on a brave face all along, and it is primarily this courage and perseverance of character that the film preoccupies itself with, in a sincere, devoted manner.

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