KOCHI: For Thamanna Sol, a 14-year-old student from Alan Feldman Public School, Kazhakoottam, cinema is her first love. She rose into the limelight after her first short film ‘Lunch Break’ was selected for around 27 film festivals and won nine awards.
She used the lockdown period to release her second short film titled ‘Buffering’, which has been officially selected for various international film festivals.
The three-minute short film is competing for the ‘best film made by children’ title at Mexico and Gold Coast film festival and has been selected to Mitreo film festival, both in Italy.
Buffering features Thamanna’s neighbour in the lead role. “The short film helps the audience interpret the concept as they wish to. During the lockdown, most of us were glued to our mobile phones. Our internet usage also went up. What will happen if our life goes to buffering mode just like those videos?” says Thamanna.
Thamanna says the concept came to her quite accidentally. “Since it didn’t require much cast or crew, I shot it soon.” Ann Prabhath cranked the camera.
Thamanna shot her first short film on a mobile camera and it won the award for the best film, director, and camera at the All Kerala Children’s Educational Film Festival 2019 organised by the State Institute of Education Technology (SIET).
Thamanna’s love for the lens comes from her father Arun Sol, a prominent photographer in Thiruvananthapuram.
For her, cinema is a medium that can influence a lot of people and she hopes to use it well in the future. “A message in a movie can influence so many,” she says.
“I’m on a break from photography as my focus is on the visual medium,” adds Thamanna. She’s also planning to do a documentary on the LBTQ community and teenagers. “The research work is currently underway. Maybe I’ll shoot it next year or it may take years to start rolling,” she quips.