8 Short Films you cannot miss at the 19th Mumbai Film Festival 2017

By Asian Film Festival on October 3, 2017 • ( Leave a comment )

We present a list of eight short films you cannot miss at the JIO MAMI 19th Mumbai Film Festival 2017 that will take place from October 12th – 18th, in Mumbai, India.

Bambaiwale by Chirag Suryavanshi – India | 2017 – 5 min.
Section: Dimensions Mumbai

It’s a story…. A story of Mumbai’s habits….of a people who came from other places… The people who merged in Mumbai and then Mumbai except them… People who does not have that habit of struggle but then it becomes the part of their lives…they collect all the confidence to survive in this 24/7 working city…. A husband sitting miles away from his wife gives a description of this city of dreams on a phone….

Director’s Note:
The film depicts a phone call between an outsider who has come to Mumbai, The city of Dreams, to work and earn a living and his wife. The two of them, living miles apart from each other, have only a cell phone to talk with each other. While telling his wife about Mumbai, he takes her into an imaginary world where he is trying to get used to the very unfamiliar world of the new City.

Schedule:
October 13th, 2017 | Friday | ECX 5 216 – 1:30 pm (Screens with other Dimensions Mumbai Short Films)
October 14th, 2017 | Saturday | Thane 2 252 – 12:00 pm (Screens with other Dimensions Mumbai Short Films)
October 18th, 2017 | Wednesday | Kurla 8 2017 – 3:35 pm (Screens with other Dimensions Mumbai Short Films)

Lines by Aanandita Banerjee, Himanshu Tiwari – India | 2017 – 3 min.
Section: Dimensions Mumbai

Why is Nikita bunking school? Hint: Almost 76 per cent of Indian schools are run by the government and most don’t have functioning toilets. Imagine what it means for a menstruating girl.

Director’s Note:
While we were trying to tackle this serious issue and make sure that that the messaging came across by the end of the film we knew that we wanted to keep a different, progressive and fun tonality to it as we have all seen serious films with message being dealt with a specific treatment. It was important to keep the audience guessing till the end. The voice over for the same reason has been written from a naughty child’s POV & makes one wonder if we are talking about bunking school however it turns out that Nikita is being forced to bunk school. The voice over eventually flows into a serious zone post we reveal the real issue in the film.

Live by Ankit Sharma – India | 2017 – 5 min.
Section: Dimensions Mumbai

An engineer who isn’t able to climb the corporate ladder or the stress that comes with his job decides to share his feelings on social media.

Director’s Note:
These days suicide is a very common problem in the world. There are many reasons for a person to commit suicide and my film looks at one of them, which is the pressure to be successful today.

Pyaada by Deeksha Rathore, Kunal Ahuja – India | 2017 – 5 min.
Section: Dimensions Mumbai

When Mr Kothari’s daughter is kidnapped, he is ready to do anything to save her. But the kidnappers have an unusual demand. He has to kidnap someone else’s daughter…

Director’s Note:
As our debut film, we wanted Pyada to be special. It was important for us to base our story around a character who underwent a transformation over the course of the film. The inspiration for Pyada comes from a scam we had heard about a while back. We wanted to find a way to incorporate into our film while still maintaining an original storyline. Co-directing a film for MAMI has been an overwhelming experience. As students in our final year of college, it was important for both of us to make an impactful which sparked a conversation.

Superpower Girl by Sooyoung Kim – South Korea | 2017 – 25 min.
Section: After Dark

A story about a top student named Mina and an inferior student named Juri. One day, both of them suddenly get tremendous capabilities.

Director’s Note:
In Korea, college exam is the most horrible thing for most of high school students. They study all day long for every day. When I recall my high school years it is almost memory of nightmare. Sometimes I had good memories with my friends but some rest of memories were bad. The college exam made us as a monster or zombie. Teachers gave big stress for students. If someone couldn’t overcome this stressful situation, sometimes it happened to be them killed by themselves. I wanted to make my film with darkness of high school years that I felt. Superpower Girl is a grotesque fantasy related with Korean school reality.

Schedule:
October 13th, 2017 | Friday | Kurla 8 207 – 9:00 pm (Screens with “Mon mon Monsters” by Giddens Ko)
October 14th, 2017 | Saturday | ECX 1 216 – 8:50 pm (Screens with “Mon mon Monsters” by Giddens Ko)

Susu by Abhishek Khan – India | 2017 – 5 min.
Section: Dimensions Mumbai

A young man finds himself faced with a curious problem. He needs to pee, but it looks like the entire city has decided to make sure he doesn’t get to a bathroom.

Director’s Note:
Making a film for Dimension Mumbai has been a To-do task since the past 3 years, but the ideas never came on to paper. I was afraid to disappoint myself by not making a film that to stand up to the standards of a film festival. The story of SUSU is very close to me as the story revolves around my city and its people. It is a film which has unintentional comedy yet, gives a clear message meant to target the audience. It is a piece of nostalgia which hits the heats of Mumbaikar and makes them relive their experience. However, the story depicted is a true story and as a director, I have tried to maintain its true essence.

The last story by Nupur Bajpai, Rishabh Kumar – India | 2017 – 5 min.
Section: Dimensions Mumbai

A struggling writer decides that he’s going to make one last effort to pitch his idea to a film producer. He gets the chance to do so in an unusual way when he turns out to be driving a cab that the producer has hired.

Director’s Note:
It is a drama film showcasing a tragic story wrapped around the ribbons of humor. The film is not about the industry and how it steals stories off of new writers but rather the realistic portrayal of how everything doesn’t end up how you want it. The society never cares for characteristics in you that you think should be valued the most but they are fascinated by the superficiality of you. It also tells that we should laugh off our tragedies and move on.

Vacancy by Anurag Bhupen Worlikar – India | 2017 – 5 min.
Section: Dimensions Mumbai

Durgesh Kumar is in the running for a seat, one that lots of people want. Can he crack the interview? Does he have what it takes?

Director’s Note:
The idea for this film came from my day to day experiences as Mumbaikar and the things that I have observed about this city. Mumbai being the theme of this competition, I have tried to showcase it in an indirect way through this film. Through this film, I tried to address one of the most common problems faced by an average Mumbaikar in a satirical manner. It is a creative speculation of how that problem could be solved and will that solution be successful.