A journey of high dreams began on wobbled wheels...
It all started when I and Sanket, were done with watching a few student short films, in a school, on a bright sunny day. We sat in our car (nothing classy, it was a Maruti 800 with wobbling axles), and the sun rays struck us on our heads.
Impressed by the films, we decided to kickstart an international short film festival.
*Striking sunlight from the windshield smash cuts to the bright focus of spotlight*
November 2016, 1st Belgaum International Short Film Festival. Venue - Wangmay Charcha Mandal. Dabbling around a few International and Indian filmmakers through YouTube and Facebook, seeking films from our friends, rented white cloth, borrowed projector and, plastic chairs, (no laughs please, we tried our best to make it look like a movie theater), we managed to screen 20 films in a 3-hour event. A very big THANKYOU (big as the biggest pizza in the world) to all those who joined hands with us.
November 2017 2nd Belgaum International Short Film Festival. Venue - Lokmanya Rangmandir. With a bigger venue comes bigger responsibility. Scrolling through the most unseen short films of the world, we started asking official invites to international filmmakers. A big THANKYOU (again, big as the biggest pizza in the world), to all those who responded to us.
December 2018 3rd Belgaum International blah blah... Venue - Lokmanya Rangmandir (I can't say blah blah here because it is not run by my rich uncles) We could gather more Indian films as we grew professionally and got in touch with more filmmakers. Formed a screening committee of 9 members. This was the FIRST time that we offered prizes to the filmmakers!! A big THANKYOU (and, this time bigger than the biggest pizza in the world), to all our sponsorers!!
December 2019.. (edited from 2020) 4th blah blah... Venue - INOX and Lokmanya Rangmandir (definitely no blah blah here) 180 entries from 40 countries. 58 movies shortlisted (Some of them are MASTERPIECES). National award-winning jury members. And a lot of things in line (chief guests)... This time we can proudly say, Yes, an International Film Festival takes place in Belgaum. It is on the 21st and 22nd of December.
Cut back to that day in a car, sunlight striking our heads. That was a good omen.
So far, everything has gone unexpectedly well.
Thanks to everyone who has been supporting us.
Written by - Sachin Bhat (bsachin25@gmail.com)