IKSFF 2022 was a celebration of creative and concise storytelling

The International Kolkata Short Film Festival (IKSFF) 2022 was a celebration of storytelling, irrespective of runtime. This year’s hybrid festival received over 190 submissions from 26 countries, from which more than 100 short films were screened virtually between March 5 and 12 on eventizer.co.in. The week-long festival concluded with a physical screening and an awards ceremony at Rotary Sadan on March 13, to recognise the winners of the 16 categories.

The awardees

The ceremony kicked off with Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee winning the Most Promising Director – Male award for Home. The award for Most Promising Director – Female went to Indira Dhar Mukherjee for Soch.

Another of Mukherjee’s films, The Green Window, was also a favourite at the festival. Jaya Seal Ghosh, who stars in the film, said, “I want to thank Indira for starting this journey. Her win has inspired me to start my own production house and make films I believe in.” Jaya's husband, Pandit Bickram Ghosh, who scored the film, bagged the award for Best Background Music.

Monami Ghosh (right) presents Indira Dhar Mukherjee (left) with the award as Jaya Seal Ghosh applauds

Amit Datta

“My first big concert was five-hours long, and now we make videos lasting three-and-a-half minutes. Cricket was played for five days, and now it's down to T20s. We used to praise films with 24 reels, but now, it is the opposite. This proves short films are here to stay, and this platform is very important,” Bickram Ghosh said.

Jury member Mohan Das greets Bickram Ghosh

Amit Datta

Filmmaker Riingo Banerjee won the Best DOP award for The Green Window. National Award winner Arghyakamal Mitra, who edited the film, expressed his happiness on seeing new faces and names coming to the fore. “Our focus should be to get films made by these artists to the viewers. Their talent promises a lot,” he said.

Retribution, directed by Koushik Das, won the Best Concept award. “This is my first film and we shot it in 2020, at the height of the lockdown. I didn’t have the budget for professional technicians, so my friends literally did everything. This award completely belongs to the team,” said the 21-year-old.

Debashis Roy was among those who believed in Koushik’s vision and his commitment won him the Best Supporting Actor award. “Retribution was a dream that Koushik fulfilled for himself and everyone who worked on it,” he said.

Anuj Bharadwaj, director of Ek Achchi Naukri, came down from Delhi to attend the ceremony. And it was a fruitful trip, with his work winning the Best Short Film award. “We shot the film in Delhi’s chilly December. We completed it in two days because the crew liked the script so much that they worked around the clock. Besides, my wife put her money into the film, so I had to make it well,” he said.

Anuj Bharadwaj (left) receives the Best Short Film award from Arjun Gourisaria for ‘Ek Achchi Naukri’

Amit Datta

Soumili Dey Sarkar’s performance in The Red Chair bagged the five-year-old the Best Child Actor Award. It was a nostalgic moment for Aritra Dutta Banik to hand her the award, having started his career as a child actor too. “I started at Soumili’s age. The moment you step in front of the camera or onto the stage, your battle starts from there. There are a lot more films and opportunities for kids these days than during my time and I hope these kids will take the industry forward,” he said.

Aritra Dutta Banik (right) presented Soumili Dey Sarkar, 5, with the Best Child Actor award for her performance in ‘The Red Chair’; (left) the film’s music composer Nabarun Bose

Amit Datta

Actress Monami Ghosh credited the festival for ushering in fresh talent. “I’m honoured to be present among such brilliant artists. I hope this festival scales greater heights in the years to come and continues to provide new talent with a platform to showcase their work,” she said.

One of the most coveted awards of the evening was the Jiban Guha Memorial Award, dedicated to the memory of the late actor. The honour went to Aparajita Ghosh for her performance in not one, but three films that were screened — Retribution, The Green Window and Daddy’s Lil Girl. “These two years away from the stage have been very difficult for us. And all the risks we have taken at work have only been to entertain you, our audience,” said Aparajita.

Among the other winners were Devashish Makhija (Best Director) for Cycle, Jishnu Raveendran for Arippa (Best Documentary), Biju C Dhamodharan for Basanthi (Best Indian Short Film), Jayant Gupta for Mera Number Kab Aayega (Best Short Film - Festival Committee Choice), Dev Shah (Best Actor) for Shikhandi and Guillaume Le Saout (Best Cinematography) for The Phantom of the Cinema.

Before the ceremony came to a close, Saswati Guha Chakraborty, director of IKSFF 2022, outlined the festival’s plans for the future. “We are in the process of launching a platform where filmmakers can submit their short films and the audience can watch them by purchasing a ticket. This will not only create a library of short films, but also provide economic support to independent filmmakers,” she said.

The committee will be accepting submissions for ISFF 2023 from April 2022.