It was an out of the world experience for 19 year old Krishna Bala Shenoi to come home one day and see a letter from none other than Steven Spielberg!
A great fan of the world famous director, Krishna received the letter as response to a short film he had made portraying iconic images from Spielberg’s films. “I am thankful to Spielberg for having taken out time to write me this letter. I would also like to thank Roger Ebert for having changed my life,” said Krishna, adding that he never expected a reply, much less a personal hand-written one.
In 2010, Roger Ebert, a renowned film critic contacted him after seeing his other films and writing. The film on Spielberg which lasts for 70 seconds consumed over four months to complete, after which the link was sent to Ebert.
This was then sent to Lois Burwell, who has worked along with Spielberg, who in turn passed it on to the award winning director.
So what does the letter contain? Spielberg in his letter has thanked Krishna for the movie and praised his work.
“I watched your sweet and respectful short movie and I was impressed, to say the least. I will be looking out at the horizon to see where you will emerge next,” said Spielberg in his letter.
“He has such an illustrious career, which such a grand variety of movies, most of them very good. He has a way of inspiring emotions in the audience in ways that not many filmmakers can,” said Krishna.
“I have tried to write about my admiration for the man and the filmmaker, but somehow, I haven’t been able to capture my awe for him. Hence, I decided to create this animated tribute to him,” adds Krishna.
Krishna is a second year student at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology has been interested in film-making since he was a eight-year old, after his mother introduced him to Spielberg’s movies such as Jurassic Park, ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.