India Film Project

India Film Project is one of the popular filmmaking events of India. It is a platform for filmmakers from India and neighbouring countries to participate and make a film over the weekend. The participants are given just 50 Hours to make a film.

At the beginning of 50 Hours, a common theme is given to all the teams. The teams then need to script the film keeping the theme in mind. At the end of Pre-production, the teams are supposed to shoot the films. The locations, equipments and actors are to be managed by the teams themselves. The next job is to edit the films and add music to them. The teams need to keep in mind the official filmmaking length allowed while editing the film.^[1]

History

India Film Project, or IFP, was started by Ritam Bhatnagar, in 2011 as a filmmaking initiatives for the locals cinema lovers. The theme for the film making competition was 'Small things in life'^[2]

2011

The first edition of IFP, called Ahmedabad Film Project then, received 86 entries from 18 cities. Known Filmmaker Sanjay Gadhvi was the jury member. More than 600 enthusiast filmmakers participated in the event.^[3]

2012

The 2012 Edition saw more than 1200 filmmakers, 120 teams from 24 cities across India, competing against each other to win the title of Best Film. Well-known Filmmakers like Shoojit Sircar, Vikramaditya Motwane, Rajesh Mapuskar and Komal Nahta were part of the jury.^[4]

2013

The 2013 Edition of India Film Project saw as many as 4200+ filmmakers from 40 cities across India and neighbouring countries. The film project went online by allowing participants to shoot films from their own cities and uploading online. The project extended their filmmaking hours from 48 hours to 50 hours. The project kicked of on September 20, 2014. Versatile and award winning filmmakers like Tigmanshu Dhulia, Nikhil Advani and Bejoy Nambiar served as the jury members. For the first time in India, an online film festival was a part of 2013 edition in association with NFDC, which allowed everyone to watch their favourite films online on their computer screen.^[5] The winning films of 2013 edition received amazing response such that they were selected for Jaipur International Film Festival for special screening.^[6]

2014

The 2014 edition of India Film Project was announced on 28 May. The festival claimed to reach out to filmmakers from smaller towns and other countries through previous year's winning film screenings. The official trailer of 2014 edition was revealed on June 4, which featured a military theme. The trailer was shot with extensive use of VFX and sent out the message 'Shoot before you get shot'.^[7]

The jury for 2014 edition was announced in First week of August. The jury consisted of one of the Indian cinema's most prolific name Shyam Benegal and much acclaimed filmmakers Hansal Mehta, Omung Kumar and Umesh Shukla.^[8]

More than 8500 filmmakers participated in the edition from 85 cities across the world, mostly comprising India, Singapore, Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Dubai, USA and UK. Almost 500 films were made in the challenge over the 50 hours beginning on September 12, 2014.^[9]

Axis Bank and Mountain Dew had extended support to 2014 edition so that more and more filmmakers can avail the benefit of this activity.

2015

The 2015 edition of India Film Project took the wings off festival to make it truly international. More than 14000 filmmakers are said to participate in this edition from 18 countries. The 5th season was announced on 15 May 2015 and the trailer was released on 15 June. The 2015 trailer was shot using a technique called visual illusion and garnered huge popularity amongst participants.^[10]

The festival lined up some very prominent faces of Bollywood who came forward as jury members. Two times National award winners Ketan Mehta and Onir along with film critic Raja Sen took up the mammoth task of judging 700+ films. The festival also saw its first female jury member Guneet Monga who was much appraised by the festival fans.^[11]

The festival saw huge participation from south Indian states such as Telangana, AP, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with huge filmmaking fans flocking to the event. Apart from India, participation was seen from USA, UK, Germany, Singapore, Dubai, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Pakistan, Malaysia and other countries. The filmmaking hours started on 18 September and ended on 20th September. Considering the huge scale of festival, the award ceremony is expected to have more than 3000 people attend the gathering.

Participation over years

Winners

External links

• Official website