Indian short films to be screened in LA

Among the six short feature films that will be showcased at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) - Shor and Sujata are in Hindi.u00a0

Back in May 2011, Tumbhi launched Paanch, a script-writing competition, and the prize promised was a chance to translate the winning scripts into short films. Shor and Sujata were this year's winners.

A still from Shor

Shor, scripted and directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, is a film based on a couple from Banaras who is consumed by its pursuit to survive in the seedy ghettos of Mumbai city. The film portrays the struggle of a working class woman's endeavours. Naturally, Neeraj sounds very excited as this is his first ever short film!

He says, "The journey so far has been really great. The biggest learning for me was to understand that the most difficult task is to actually assemble a great team which is equally excited about the project hence the success of the film must be accredited to them."

Scripted by Annie Zaidi and directed by Shlok Sharma, Sujata is a 10-minute short film about a woman who takes matters into her own hands when her childhood tormentor hunts her down after years of running away from him.

A still from Sujata

Shlok stated he's delighted and added, "This is a recognition for all the efforts my team has put in. I would specially like to thank Annie for writing such a beautiful script. I'm totally looking forward to get a good response to the film."

The other four short films to be screened are Khara Karodpati (Piyush Thakur), Aashpordha (Anirban Roy), The 5 (Ravi Kapoor) and Place for Landing (Shambhavi Kaul).u00a0