Dear Diary, a film by Team Purple, was the winning film of the 75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow programme’s 53-Hour Challenge. The movie focuses on the safety of women in India through the story of a girl who is abused.
Then, in 2047, her sister comes home and realises that India has become a better place for women. “The beauty of the film is that it can tell very deep truths…provoke thought, and bring us together rather than send us away,” says CEO of Shorts TV Carter Pilcher.
The 75 Creative Minds selected from over 1,000 applicants were divided into 5 teams. Each of the teams produced a short film on their idea of India@100 in just 53 hours. This segment of IFFI 53 was powered by National Film Development Corporation in collaboration with Shorts TV.
Commending the participants of 75 Creative Minds, the CEO of Shorts TV Carter Pilcher has said: “What happened in the past 5 days is ground-breaking for the entire film industry in India. The names were announced for 75 Creative Minds on November 4th, and in the last 20 days they have brainstormed, connected on Zoom and shot an entire film.”
The 5 teams interpreted the challenge of looking at India in 2047 in their unique way. “One was about futuristic technology and how it disenfranchises relationships, and the importance of relationships; another one was about a woman whose husband's family wants her to wear a nose ring at their engagement, and has an interesting and hopeful statement.”
The films have come out amazingly well, informs Pilcher. “Every single one of them had something in it that was absolutely amazing. Many of the directors are from parts of the country which do not get to be highlighted.”
Even the manner in which the five teams chose to spend money was different: one team spent on local talent, one on hiring equipment and one on technology.
He threw light on how as the 53 hours progressed, the pressure increased and the bonding between the teammates became stronger, with all of them learning about their skills as well as those of their teammates.
Pilcher credited the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur for the idea of the 53-Hour Challenge. “It was entirely his brainwave, and it turned out to be an amazing idea with the way things have turned out in this challenge.”
On the way forward for 75 Creative Minds, Pilcher said that all 5 films will be telecast on Shorts TV on Sunday, November 27, 2022, at 9 pm.
He also spoke of how Shorts TV has been instrumental in accrediting Short Film Festival entries in India with the Academy Awards, including these 5 films, which will be eligible for an Oscar nomination.
All 75 Creative Minds were under 35, and most of them were already filmmakers who had not had their big break yet.
The aim of Shorts TV is the same as that of the 75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow programme, ie to give talent an opportunity, a platform and a leg-up in the film industry, he informed.