1st Edition of PickUrFlick Indie Film Festival ends, promises to come back with diverse global films next year

1st Edition of PickUrFlick Indie Film Festival ends, promises to come back with diverse global films next year ~"As a filmmaker it is very difficult to make independent films on such issues like insurgency. I have always wanted to bring out things which are not audible. I portrayed this issue in my own visual way. I have always been terrorized by insurgency since childhood. I know families who have been affected by insurgernts. The traumatization has affected the locals so much, that they have muted their voice, they think its okay to have such issues. It has been a history, no one dared to bring this on a public platform, this is journey for me, it has been a difficult process for me to bring in the real story into the mainstream cinema. To bring this sensitive issue, I tried to portray it in a natural way to not face major consequences.” said 64th National Award Winner, Jaicheng Jai Dohutia who also won the best director award for Haanduk at PIFF 2017~ ~Anirban Guha and his wife Sinjini Sengupta, wins the best screenplay award for Bengali film Elixir~ May 22, 2016, New Delhi: The 1st edition of the 3 day PickUrFlick Indie Film Festival (PIFF) 2017 at the Instituto Cervantes concluded on 21st May, 2017 with the screening of over 16 multi-lingual films and an award ceremony felicitating 12 winners. The closing film was WWII German feature, Hore Die Stille (Hear The Silence) by Ed. Ehrenburg which won the best feature film award and best cinematography award.

National Award Winner Jaicheng Jai Dohutia was awarded the best director for Haanduk by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan (Sexy Durga). Anirban Guha and his wife Sinjini Sengupta, won the best screenplay award for Elixir. This drama filled Bengali short has been to Cannes International Film Festival 2016, and has also won Best Short Film award in Boston Kaleidoscope Film Festival 2016. Siddharth Murjani, was awarded the Emerging talent of the year as an actor/writer for 3 of his films (Menage, Riemann, Dealer). Ending the award ceremony Abhishek Sinha, the founder of PickUrFlick.com said “It's been an amazing experience and this marks the culmination of 1st edition of PickUrFlick indeed. PIFF will come back with more diverse global films next year”. 64th National Award Winner for best feature film Haanduk, Jaicheng Jai Dohutia said “As a filmmaker it is very difficult to make independent films on such issues like insurgency. I have always wanted to bring out things which are not audible. I portrayed this issue in my own visual way. I have always been terrorized by insurgency since childhood; I know families who have been affected by insurgernts. The traumatization has affected the locals so much, that they have muted their voice, they think its okay to have such issues. It has been a history, no one dared to bring this on a public platform, this is journey for me, it has been a difficult process for me to bring in the real story into the mainstream cinema. To bring this sensitive issue, I tried to portray it in a natural way to not face major consequences.” Anirban Guha and his wife Sinjini Sengupta who has won multiple awards for Elixir said “Independent cinema is coming in because given the digital market, given the internet, in the current of time, people spend time looking at the phone screen, if independent film can actually tap that space in the viewers mind then perhaps that has opened up an entirely a new market in to this mainstream cinema, this is a parallel field that is opening up”

Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, also a jury member who awarded the winners at PIFF talking about today's independent cinema said “Taking in context, Indie cinema in India is growing specially after Court, Thithi and Kothanodi. and of course my film Sexy Durga and it is getting the recognition across the world and people are coming out with new films. Even though we say India is secondary, but we have a diverse culture and different languages. We learn about the states, the country, the culture, the languages through these films. Festival like these are a good medium for filmmakers to bring in new content and real stories. If filmmakers add commercial values to their independent films, it's not independent cinema. Truly independent filmmakers don't care about success of the film, after making the film, they don't care about the audience choice, they only make films from which they are inspired, where they are getting some kind of vibe from the society, they don't feel that if we make the issue a subject, people will reject it. Independent cinema is still emerging, new filmmakers will come and grow, it will definitely become an association and people will be connected more today.”

The festival witnessed 2 World Premieres, 5 Asian Premieres and 6 Indian Premieres.This edition screened 70 films over 4 categories in more than 10 languages. 52 shorts, 7 features, 8 Animations and 3 documentaries spread over 23 Spanish films, 14 Silent Films, 7 Hindi Films, 4 Bengali Films, Golden Oscar winning Arabic film , National Award winning Assamese film and Nepali, Persian, German, French, Russian and Kurdish film. The Spotlight country for this edition was Spain as special focus is on Spanish/Latin American films. 30+ films from Spain/Latin America were screened at the festival.

WINNERS AT PIFF 2017 1.Best feature HÖRE DIE STILLE (HEAR THE SILENCE) 2.Best Director (Feature) JAICHENG JAI DOHUTIA 3.Best Short Film RENOVABLE (RENEWABLE) 4.Best Director (Short) JON GARAÑO & JOSE MARI GOENAGA 5.Best Documentary Netra by N. Ravindran (Was screened at the Bangalore edition) 6.Best Director (Documentary) HARJANT GILL (SENT AWAY BOYS) 7.Best Animation JOB, JORIS & MARIEKE (OTTO) 8.Best Animation (DIRECTOR) AHMAD SALEH 9.Best Cinematography HÖRE DIE STILLE (HEAR THE SILENCE) 10.Best Screenplay ELIXIR 11.Best Editing CAMPEON (CHAMPION) 12.Emerging Talent of the year Sidhartha Murjani, actor writer, 3 of his films at PIFF About PickUrFlick Indie Film Festival Pickurflick Indie Film Festival-PIFF 2017 is India’s first multi-city offline+online indie film festival for independent film makers from around the globe. Their vision is to promote good independent cinema and support the indie film fraternity. This year’s inaugural edition of the festival received more than 550+ films from 50 countries, out of which around 100+ films were screened across Bangalore and will be screened in Delhi. About the Founder (Abhishek Sinha) Abhishek quit his corporate life after 11 years to pursue his passion for movies and to do what he likes to do the best that is watch movies! He has been keenly following the entertainment industry trends for over more than a decade and had a business idea around movies right from his college days which evolved with the changing times and shaped up to become Pickurflick as it is today. An avid follower of cinema around the world, Abhishek, in a very short span of time has successfully created a platform for independent film makers and is now creating India’s first of its kind Indie film festival. The synopsis of the 70 films, the premiere list, the nominated films list ​​and the poster of the festival has been attached with this email. To know more about the festival, you can visit their page: http://www.pickurflick.com/piff/about.php.