Over 400 film enthusiasts gathered at the auditorium in St Francis Degree College for women as the “The First Cut” started rolling on Monday early morning. Department of P.G. Mass Communication, St. Francis College for Women hosted its first ever film festival, which they call “The First Cut”. About 10 short films and two documentaries that came in from across the state by both professional and amateur makers were screened at the day long festival. Providing a platform for students to exhibit their talents in film making, the film festival saw the presence of eminent members from the Telugu film fraternity, such as Tammareddy Bharadwaj, Lakshmi Manchu, Jhansi, R.Narasimha Rao, K.L.Prasad, Uma Maheshwar Rao and others.
A special jury was present to judge the films and the results were announced at a valedictory ceremony held post the screenings. “Premincha” by Kaushik Raju and “Half Mark” by the White Elephant Productions won the first and the second prizes respectively in the short films category, while a documentary “Happy Journey” by Nabeela and group from the University of Hyderabad won the award for the best documentary. Special jury awards were presented to “Live The Marriage” by Kamal Sucharan and “Mistaken” made by students of St Francis and a special recognition award was presented to a documentary titled “Unseen Disaster” by Anshul.