A number of eminent filmmakers and technicians have been taking their time off their hectic schedules to participate in interactive sessions of the ongoing short film festival, Legend 2015, much to the delight of young college students participating in the event, held at Sathyabama University. Organised by the department of Visual Communication, the event will go until September 16 at the university auditorium.
This year’s edition of the annual event was inaugurated by well known film director S P Jananathan on Monday. This was followed by a session by cinematographer Om Prakash who made an attempt to enlighten students on the finer aspects of cinematography. The final session for the day was by director Manikandan of Kaaka Muttai fame.
Several eager faces posed questions to Manikandan to which he replied with a lot of thought and patience. One of the questions he answered was whether one needed to come from a family of photographers to have an eye for photography and cinematography. Manikandan replied, “Most members of my family are in the police department. Even when I wanted to become a photographer, my mom asked me to become a police photographer. So this is an acquired skill. I wasn’t born with photographic skills.”
Next came from another student who wanted to know if one should work as an assistant director or study a filmmaking course first. The director said, “Work for a year and then enroll for a course. That will enable you to ask more questions and learn more.”
While interactive sessions were also held on Tuesday with Srinivas Mohan, who handled the VFX portions of the blockbuster Baahubali, Preetham Chakraborty, Radhika Ramasamy and director Ravi Kumar of Indru Netru Naalai fame, Wednesday will be reserved for the screening of nominated short films.
The winners will be decided by director Radhamohan.