New Delhi (India), February 2: STHREE short film festival was organised by HATTI movies in partnership with Big Print Pictures, MIT Square, and Raj Square Charity Foundation on 17th December 2022 in Chennai at MGR Arangam, Dr. MGR Janaki College for Women who were the venue partner. The event was sponsored by Joyalukkas, Nippon Paint, Stonesoup, and IICI. MIT Square, as the outreach partner, and Raj Square Charity Foundation, as the CSR partner, organised the stalls which were primarily given to women entrepreneurs to demonstrate their products and services. Spreco was the waste management partner and helped with the objective of the green event.
The festival was inaugurated by singer/voice artist Ms. Brindha Sivakumar and included a dance performance by the Natya students’ team of Dr. MGR Janaki College. There was also a panel discussion with the jury members and women technicians from the film industry. Subtitlist Rekhs moderated the discussion which included Director Ms. Priya V, Editor Ms. Rajalakshmi, Content creator Ms. Priya Parthasarathy, and Writer Ms. Kutti Revathi. A young Composer Ms. R. Sivatmikha also attended the event as a guest speaker, shared her experiences, and sang a few songs from her composition.
The festival witnessed a music concert by the all-girls band ‘IRA’ including Vocalist Ms. Lavita Lobo, Keyboardist Ms. Sterlin Nithya, Drummer Ms. Ragavi Bajaj, Guitarist Ms. Vedika Bhavsar and keyboardist Ms. Varshitha Prabu. The festival paid tribute to the women technicians of Indian cinema since 1926 in a video collage.
A total of 9 shortlisted films were screened. The films were individually recognised for their content and presentation and 3 of the films were placed in the top spots. Brammakandan by Ms. Ragavi Kannan & team from Tamilnadu won first place (Joyalukkas Ruby Award); Kochurani by Ms. Hena Chandran & team from Kerala won second place (Joyalukkas Emerald Award); Hejjegalu by Ms. Trupti Kulkarni & team from Karnataka won the third place (Joyalukkas Diamond Award).
Mementos were made out of recycled newspaper by Ms. Radhika, a differently abled young entrepreneur from Coimbatore. HATTI movies initiated this film festival and it is the first time such an event focused on women technicians in the Indian film industry. MIT Square and Raj Square Charity Foundation have played an important role in connecting with several institutions, partners, people, and communities to make this event a grand success and will be continued as an annual event henceforth.
