Chitrotsava 2012 from ICAT, Bangalore

Name of the festival: Chitrotsava

Date: 21st January,2012

Venue: Alliance Franaise de Bangalore

Timing: 3.00 PM to 7.00 PM

Objective: To create an awareness about the films made by ICAT students and celebrate the art of animation with the young enthusiasts by screening short student's animation films along with other internationally acclaimed films. The purpose was not only to boost the morale of the students but also give them good exposure and a platform to interact with their counterparts.

Facts: With much enthusiasm and ardour, ICAT Design and Media College hosted its first annual short film festival named 'Chitrotsava' at Alliance Francaise, Bangalore on 21st January, 2012. Ms. Sunanda Bhat, the founder of Songline films and a well known documentary filmmaker was present as the chief guest of the event.

The 4 hours event was aimed at showcasing about 16 short films directed by the students of ICAT along with few internationally acclaimed animation films. The objective was to create an awareness about the student's films and celebrate the art of filmmaking with the young film enthusiasts of Bangalore. The auditorium was packed with over 300 people as the audience comprising mostly of students from colleges like Image college, Raffles Millennium International, Cava, Animaster, Arena, South East Asian College etc.

The event started with a formal address by Ms. Varsha Shelar, the co-ordinator of Academics at ICAT,Bangalore followed by the screening of student's films. An assortment of films in different categories like 3D animation, Live-action, Stop-motion and Visual Effects kept the audience spellbound throughout the screening. Some of the most appreciated films screened in the fest were 'The Life within' by Remal Raj C K, a 3D animation based on anti-smoking, 'The other side' by Priyanka Shyam, a fusion of 3D and 2D animation based on the fantasy of a little girl, 'Hues', a stop motion animation directed by Alankrita Jain which also got the nomination in Asifa Film festival, 2011 and 'Thirasheela' by Arunlal Sasidharan Pillai, a story on a social cause in the form of Kathakali, with the subtle use of Visual effects. After the screening, the chief guest, Ms. Sunanda Bhat presented her views about the films and shared her knowledge and experience of filmmaking. She also shared about her film which is in progress and showed her interest in inviting students for her upcoming projects. The student's film category was followed by the screening of globally acclaimed international films that enthralled the audience with their creative story-telling and technical excellence.

The event was a big success in terms of boosting the morale of the students and giving them a good exposure to the different medium of filmmaking and the films screened were an enriching experience for all the film enthusiasts present as an audience. The applause and appreciation of the audience has motivated the organiser of the event to conduct a film festival every year under the name of 'Chitrotsava.'