Welcome back! I take immense pride in presenting the ninth version of this much
awaited mega event Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and
Animation Films, 2006. You have seen the resilience of Mumbai after the deluge of
26/7. You have been witnessing the resilience of MIFF since its Inception. Its definitely
not a coincidence that MIFF was born in Mumbai in 1990.
A writer makes an expression with a Pen. A painter makes an expression with a brush.
A sculptor makes an expression with a chisel and a hammer. And a filmmaker makes
an expression with a camera. This makes these creative mediums comparable which
was not so due to the prohibitive costs of celluloid film. Now with cost-effective
digitalized formats camera becomes your means of Self-expression. Naturally then,
there has been an upsurge of young filmmakers and a feast of digital productions
of document, short fiction animation films. Mind you, these youngsters are not amateurish
videographers, they are either trained at Institutes or in the actual field. This
hugely talented flotilla of creative sailors is out with a purpose. And MIFF has
been strongly behind them all the way, providing then an international platform
in their own backyards. Consequently, there has been a shift of focus from expensive
celluloid format to digital videos. This is primarily so in case of short films
as the market is much small for this genre. The search is on for finding newer avenues
of exhibition of short films in terms of film festivals, the satellite channels,
the Internet and the multiplexes. We, in Films Division, have tuned into the changing
times. Apart from MIFF we have been organizing film festivals all over the country,
we have been archiving our films through digital restoration, we have launched our
broadband enabled interactive website with more than 220 hours of viewing time and
we have been looking out to tap the TV channels for short film slots. As always,
MIFF and Films Division remain committed to spread the short film movement far and
wide.
In the meantime enjoy the seven days’ bonanza of your choicest films!
RAGHU KRISHNA
(DIRECTOR, MIFF2006 & CHIEF PRODUCER. )