The National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) is streaming select short films from the recently concluded Lockdown Film Festival Cinemas of India. The festival, which was organized by Carrot Films, focused on stories of common people dealing with the pandemic and their perspective on the ongoing situation. The winning entries were shortlisted by eminent jury personalities like Aparna Sen, Sharmila Tagore, Nivedita Basu, Gautum Rode, Hiten Tejwani, Ken Ghosh, among others.
Actor Ratna Pathak Shah, who was a member of the jury, said “I enjoyed these films very much. Imaginative, interesting, different from each other, and not letting limitations get in the way. They were a very reassuring experience for me—proof that we may soon make good films regularly rather than occasionally.” Ratna, along with other jury members, went through several films to shortlist the finest twenty. Talking about the shortlisting process, she says, “It was a rather daunting job though, as comparisons became inevitable. We had lively discussions in the jury and most of us wished we could have included more films.”
On the industry support for the festival, joint secretary films (Ministry of I and B), and managing director of NFDC India, Smt. TCA Kalyani says, “These are illustrious artists and they have dedicated their lives and careers to the cinema. Not surprised that they have come forward to support such a unique initiative and hopefully filmmakers would be proud of their contribution in their own journey as filmmakers.”