Animated films strike the emotional chord by the effective art of storytelling in an extensively creative way. In short, ‘Animation’ is an innovative way to express emotions and convey a heart touching tale. Films are an integral medium of communication as they grab the audience through both visual and audio appeal. Well, few films sparked their magic at the Flo Film Festival organised by the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) hosted at the Films Division of India from 18-20 February 2016.
The festival targeted the most powerful issue and attention needed element of the Indian society-Women Empowerment. It showcased various Indian and international features, documentaries, animation and short films dealing with women’s issues, as well as inspiring stories of hope, courage, emotion, love and empowerment.
Animation beamed among the various live action films as Gitanjali Rao’s animated short Printed Rainbow and True Love Story and Climb Media’s Sand Castle and Like Sisters portrayed a unique art of film making.
A love story is engrossing as each of us connect to a love story in our own way. Gitanjali Rao therefore portrayed a simple story of a street flower seller boy and a flower or ‘kajra’ making girl through her animated film True Love Story. The story follows a rising mute script as various sides of the characters are unfolded gradually leading to a final dark ending. The whole environment of the film is kept rough, hazy, sketchy in order to keep the road side feel alive and transitions of moving vehicles play an important role to intensify the film. The simple drawings and use of typical Bombay style music suits the whole setting of the film but ultimately the story rules the audience.
‘Black and white’ has a lot of colour in it if the right story is told in the right way. Gitanjali Rao’s Printed Rainbow, a minimum colour film, revolves around the story of an old woman and her cat as she enters into her world of imagination. Even this film has a dark ending which emotionally touches the audience even though the story is a bit fictional.
A sensitive topic like Pedophilia was portrayed in a subtle way in Climb Media’s animated short Sand Castle. Director, Kireet Khurana says, “We wanted to convey how grave Pedophilia is in a very short and effective way. And storytelling was the basic focus so we worked on the story primarily.” Child marriage can be harmful in many ways and Like Sisters displayed the intense bond of the two siblings along with the seriousness of the aftermath of child marriage. In terms of animation, this film concentrated on simple sets with the central focus on creating awareness through the script.
The festival also provided the opportunity to question and discuss issues with the eminent creators of various films and thus enter the mind of a film maker. Well, Flo Film Festival has embarked a new beacon of light by giving animation and other films a space to tackle sensitive issue and transform the ideology of society by influencing the minds of their viewers. It has not only encouraged women empowerment but also encouraged the thought of film making and the concept of communicating through animated films.