Film Festivals
BITS Film Festival 2018
Dates: 17th to 19th August; Venue: DLT 6
The film festival was organized by the Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences in association with the Drama Club and Kala, curated by Dr. Parichay Patra and Prof. Geetha B.
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Documentary Screening and Talk
Presenter: Dr. Aaron Lobo
Documentary Screened: Chorao Island: A Place, its People and a Project
Date and time: 28th January 2017 (Saturday), 10:00 - 11:00
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Film Screening and Discussion:
Film title: Remembering Kurdi
Date: 26 August 2016
About the Film: Description of the film: Remembering Kurdi witnesses the brief resurfacing of a census town submerged for three decades by the Salaulim dam, in Goa. Through the explorations of a young man and woman in search of their ancestral home and history, the film is an allegory for the universal quest to preserve memory and so also a sense of belonging. The audience had the opportunity to meet and discuss with the crew members of the film. Watch the trailer of the film here: https://vimeo.com/170348198
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tiNai Ecofilm Festival 2015
The second edition of tiNai Ecofilm Festival (TEFF) 2015 concluded in BITS Pilani K. K. Birla Goa Campus, after three days of watching and discussion of ecofilms. TEFF 2015, held on 8th, 9th and 10th of October, screened twenty ecofilms along with two workshops by eminent filmmakers and activists.
Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl, National Award winning fillmmakers were the Chief Guests for the Film Festival. The inaugural film was Dammed directed by Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl after which there was a lively and meaningful interaction with the filmmakers. The discussion was moderated by Mr. Solano Jose Savio Da Silva, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, BITS Pilani K. K. Birla Goa Campus. An international ecodocumentary competition was held as part of the festival for three categories: Indian Short Ecodocumentary, Indian Feature Ecodocumentary and International Ecodocumentary. Shifting Undercurrents, Directed by Rita Banerji, won the Best Indian Short Ecodocumentary award followed by Chintan Gohil’s A Commons Sense (Best Indian Short Ecodocumentary – Runner-up), The Red Data Book: An Appendix (Best Indian Feature Ecodocumentary) by Sreemith Sekar, Shrinking Shores ((Best Indian feature Ecodocumentary – Runner-up) by Ashish Rao, a French film, Jikoo, a wish (Best International Ecodocumentary) by Christophe Leroy and Adrien Camus and the Taiwanese film, The Lost Sea (Best International Ecodocumentary – Runner-up) by Hung Chun-Hsiu. 82 films were entered in all the categories from various countries and across India. A workshop on ''Photography and Digital Filmmaking'' supported by Sony India was conducted by Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl on 08 & 09 October and a workshop on ''Documentary as a tool for Social Change'' was conducted by Saraswati Kavula, a filmmaker, farmer and activist, on 10 October 2015. More than 200 young ecoenthusiasts and students from across India participated the event. The co-directors of the festival were Prof. Meenakshi Raman, Head, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, BITS Pilani, K.K. Birla Goa Campus, Dr. Rayson K. Alex and Dr. Reena Cheruvalath, Assistant Professors at BITS Goa.
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We Care Film Festival 2015
We Care Film festival (awareness of disability issues) in collaboration with Brotherhood, New Delhi, was organized at BITS Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa Campus on 21 January 2015. With the aim of creating awareness about disability issues through the medium of films and to foster integration in society by spreading the message of ability We Care Film festival is one of its kind in India. Apart from this the festival aims at giving a fillip to the rights-based approach where persons with disability are considered persons first. The event was inaugurated by Her Excellency, The Governor of Goa, Smt. Mridula Sinha. About 15 short and feature length disability films were screened in the auditorium of BITS Goa. The Coordinators of the festival were Prof. Meenakshi Raman, Dr. Rayson K. Alex and Mr. Solano Da Silva.
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tiNai Ecofilm Festival 2014
The two day ecofilm festival, tiNai ecofilm festival (TEFF) 2014 was held at BITS, Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa campus on the 31 January and 1 February, 2014. The Chief Guest, Director Mathieu Roy (a Canadian filmmaker) and the guest of honour, Mr. Alain Oliver (Director and Consul Generala, Quebec Government Office, Mumbai) inaugurated the event and released the Festival Booklet, respectively. Twenty-two films whose themes centred on issues of ecological and environmental relevance were screened in the festival. Around two hundred students from Colleges in and around Goa and fifty delegates from India and outside India participated in the festival attending lectures, workshops, discussions and watching films.
An award-winning documentary film, Surviving Progress, directed by Canadian filmmaker Mathieu Roy and produced by Martin Scorcesese was the inaugural film of TEFF 2014. Four films from the seventy entries, won awards. The films Have you seen the Arana? (Best Ecodocumentary Feature); City's Edge (Best Short Ecodocumentary); In God's Land (Ecodocumentary Feature - Runner-up) and Timbaktu (Short Ecodocumentary - Runner Up) were given Rs.20, 000 and Rs.10, 000 as cash awards along with certificates and trophies. The awards were sponsored by Kuala Lumpur Ecofilm Festival, Malaysia.
Eminent social and environmental scientist, Padma Bhushan and Padma Sri awardee, Prof. Madhav Gadgil delivered a lecture on the role of teachers and students of Goa in environment monitoring leading to preservation. He was also a part of the panel discussion titled, ‘Can development be Ecocentric?’ along with professors, activists and filmmakers. Eminent Ecocritics, Prof. Nirmal Selvamony (Central University of Tamil Nadu) and Prof. N. Nagaraju delivered lectures on Ecocriticism and led an open discussion on Ecocriticism with the research scholars who participated from across India.
Alongside screening films, four workshops, three lectures, one lecture-cum-demonstration and a panel discussion were also organized as part of TEFF 2014. The festival concluded with the screening of four award-winning films of TEFF 2014. Prof. Meenakshi Raman directed and Dr. Rayson K. Alex co-directed the festival. For more details, check the website: www.teff.in.
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BITS Goa Students’ Short Film Festival
Eight short films directed and produced by students of BITS Goa were screened on 28th April 2014. The festival was organized to showcase the documentary and fiction films made by students. This was an opportunity to express the creativity and social engagement of students.
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