Shamiana founder Cyrus Dastur
interacts with students and members of iLEAD on short films
India’s dedicated and
fastest growing short film club, Shamiana Arts brought a series of shorts’
screenings to students of iLEAD, when founder Cyrus Dastur visited the campus.
Cyrus Dastur, notable theatre
personality, and founder of Shamiana Arts visited the Institute of Leadership,
Entrepreneurship & Development (iLEAD) on the 1st of September
to present screenings of few short films and interact with students. The hour
long session saw the auditorium packed with students and faculties of the
institute.
With short films becoming the
major rage among the present generation, Mr. Dastur spoke at length about how
to make an impact with shorts in an overtly competitive scenario in India.
After screening a host of short films, including ‘Lila’ (2014), ‘Cupidity’
(doubling as brand promotion for ‘Cornetto’) and the very recent ‘Stutterer’
that won the Academy awards this year, he explained to students the art of
short film making. Besides, he also encouraged them to showcase their work in
prominent film festivals/projects like ’48 hour film project’ and the ‘101’
hours film making challenge’ by Yes Foundation, with which his venture, Shamiana
has collaborated with for screenings of award winning short films. Apart from
these, worlds’ top short film festivals also make for great platforms to
portray one’s art.
“The audience is not obliged to
watch your film, so focus on the content if you wish to carve a niche in the
industry,”, he said while offering some tips and tricks to students for
excelling in the art. The Q&A session also covered practical concerns of
budget, where Mr. Dastur stressed on ‘labour, talent and attitude’ as determiners
to gain funding in the long run. As beginners however, self funding is what he
felt should be practiced to achieve response from the viewers.
A prominent name in the Indian
theatre circuit, Mr. Dastur made his foray into the industry with his flagship production,
‘When God said Cheers!’. In his second visit to the campus, he enlightened
students who mostly know him as the founder of ‘Shamiana Short Film Club’ to
his starting of a feature film production company with two friends. The film is
currently in the post-production stage and is slated to release by the end of
the year.
Mr. Dastur’s venture ‘Shamiana’
can be traced online too. Before signing off, he offered his email address and
suggested students, particularly film lovers to keep expanding their horizons.
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