Although commercial film festivals have always been attractive tocinemagoers, new initiatives to exhibit small, meaningful and non-commercial cinema do have a sizeable audience. Proving this fact yet again, the second edition of "Cinemela", a 4-day festival of short films & documentaries by young filmmakers, opened to a packed audience on 12 April at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Organised by the Cinemela Collectives and JNU Students Union School ofArts and Aesthetics, in collaboration with Max Muller Bhavan, Cinemela ran from 12 to 15 April. The Limca Book of World Records recognizedCinemela's very first edition last year for its uniqueness andparticipation.

Inaugurating the festival, Aruna Vasudev, founder, Osian's Cinefan,appreciated Cinemela for the opportunity it gives to young filmmakers to showcase their work. Senior journalist Paranjoy G. Thakurta also agreed. "The profit-mongering mainstream media culture has to be resisted with more and more events like Cinemela," he said. Prof.Parul Mukherjee, Dean of School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, described it as a successful effort in building bridges between the academics and practices in Art.

To underscore its range and plurality, two films from two distinctworlds and realities were screened on the opening day. Gadi LohardagaMail, a film by Meghnad and Biju Toppo is the only visual documentation on a historic train in Jharkhand, while Ester Amrami'sBerlin Diary captures the life of a young Israeli woman in Berlin."Cinemela intends to take films created by young artists to youngaudience, besides making efforts to create a space for the newcreative voices from all over the world which is denied by the crudelogic of media industry. We believe that these woks deserve attentionfor their ability to go beyond local issues and provincial tastes.


Speaking on the occasion, Katja Kessing, Programmes Director in Max Mueller Bhavan recounted the historic relationship of Max Muller Bhavan with Indian arts, cultures and cinemas, besides brining cinemas across borders together. This year, a series of prize winning short films by young filmmakers were the special attraction. These films from countries like Belarus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia,Ukraine and the United States are being portrayed as gestures of reconciliation between nations and people affected by World War II. Besides, there were a number of films from Indian filmmakers covering diverse issues, regions and languages. Like Bilori by Sandeip Modi in Marathi, Poorvragh by Surendra Kumar in Hindi, or Dim, by Anil Sadarangani in English, or The Quest, by Khanjan Nath in Assamese, or Nemesis of Motherhood by Snehasis Das in Oriya. Dim, interestingly as short as three and half minutes, is about two women form a minority community discuss the housing problem in Mumbai. There is also one on the experience of a foreign student in V.V. Maheshwar Rao\'s In India. While Ahish Bhatiya's six and a half minute long Breaking the Wall of Ignorance is about children and young people suffering from Down's Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Hearing Impairment, Mental Illnesses, Venkat and Veeramani\'s Living Under Bondage is a 21-minute visual documentation of the plight of casual labourers working in construction sites in a prestigious university like JNU. New Delhi Private Limited by Ravinder S Randhawa raises the issue of transformation of New Delhi as a 'world class' city at the enormous human and ecological costs. Aap Jaisa Koi Nahin bySamina Aslam of Pakistan is tribute to the genius of Late Nazia Hasan, one of the most famous singer of the sub-continent.



As a special entry, the festival also screened a rare collection of best first films from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). It includes passing out films by noted film personalities like SatishShah, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Madan Bavaria with actors like Jaya Bacchan,Smita Patil, Suresh Oberoi acting in them and Girish Kassaravali, all during their student days.

The festival thanks Swara Bhaskar (Classical Dance), Tridib Bera (Sculptor), Rajiv Kshetri
and John Xaviers (Painters) for joining the festival with their talent.

We wish all filmmakers and artists creative success in future.

All together the festival screened 51 films including some last time entries.

Cinemela Collectives is grateful to School of Arts & Aesthetics for providing the space.

We thank audience who participated in the festival inspite of terrible heat.

We thank the press persons who sympathytically reported the event.