Tales of humanity win big in short film festival at Nandan

KOLKATA: Documentaries on Kolkata’s bhistis, film critic Rashid Irani, grandparents’ empty nest syndrome and artist Premalatha Seshadri’s works won big at the 5th South Asian Short Film Festival held at Nandan. The Satyajit Ray Golden Award for the Best Documentary went to Rafeeq Ellias’s ‘If Memory Serves Me Right’. The Satyajit Ray Silver Award for the Second Best Documentary was shared by Bijoy Chowdhury’s ‘My Son and his Grandfather’ and Farha Khatun’s ‘Ripples under the Skin’.Khatun also took home the Mrinal Sen Golden Award for the Best Direction in Documentary. The Satyajit Ray Bronze Award for the Third Best Documentary went to Suranjay and Hiranmayee Dasgupta for ‘Premlatha: A Video Portrait’.
The chance to screen and subsequently win the festival’s top award for a documentary about a film critic who feared that cinemas might close down following the pandemic was both cathartic and poignant for Ellias. “With Satyajit Ray’s name on the award, it is indeed music to the ears. Yet, a small voice tells me not to get too carried away. There’s much to do and not too much time,” said Ellias after winning the festival’s top award.
Khatun’s film explored the dying community of Kolkata’s bhistis — the water delivery men with mashaqs (leather sacks). After winning two awards, Khatun said, “Every film is like an exam. This recognition means that I’ve been able to clear my exam. It will give me the impetus to keep going and experimenting.” The experience of making this film is different from that of her earlier three – ‘I Am Bonnie’, ‘The Jungle Man... Loiya’ and ‘Holy Rights’. “None of them were based in Kolkata. This film is a record of not just a community but the flux that Kolkata is undergoing,” she said. What made the screening special was the presence of the film’s protagonist - bhisti Sheikh Nazim. “He got very nostalgic while watching himself on the big screen,” she said. Khatun plans to laminate all the photos of Nazim at Nandan and gift it to him soon.
Chowdhury was pleasantly surprised that his personal film’s theme touched many viewers. “Many said that it prompted them to reflect on how elderly members of their families dealt with the emptiness of being separated from their grandchildren. My film has been screened in Maharashtra and Kerala. But a screening in one’s own city is always special,” he said.
Describing their film, Suranjay said, “A self-confessed minimalist - in life and in art - Premalatha Seshadri gives us a glimpse of her artistic journey of over six decades. Our film records the moments where she shares her journey with two people and a camera in the thick of the lockdown of April last year. I’m glad that the film competed and won an award at a festival that encourages independent cinema.”