Origins & Evolution of CAFF
How CAFF by FilmTantra became the largest Student Run Film Festival in India.
Filmtantra- The Filmmaking and Film Appreciation Society of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Delhi University was established in 2017 by a bunch of people with a shared love for cinema (and probably too much free time on their hands) with a vision to introduce indie and offbeat cinema to the general audience. Whose idea of cinema has been reduced to unrealistic fight scenes, cheap item songs, few cliched plotlines, and denigrating jokes. We are grateful those guys did not find something else, seemingly better to do. Over the years, FilmTantra has made several films, screened several dozens, and appreciated or criticized several hundred. The first edition of our annual film festival- Cineville, was organized in March 2018, to celebrate the kind of films that pull us and many others towards this art form. Only nine films and a couple of panel discussions, that is all that Cineville consisted of at that time, but the enthusiasm and response of the audience paved the way for exponential growth over the years.
Many memorable films like 'Tungrus' and 'There is something in the air’ that have received international acclaim became a part of Cineville over the years and it became a platform for both learning and entertainment. More and more filmmakers, film lovers, and sponsors would associate with us each passing year. Our annual student filmmaking competition Drishyam would also accompany every edition of Cineville. Coronavirus hit immediately after the third edition of Cineville but that is when the members of our society got most ambitious. While every other event became dysfunctional or at least smaller in scale, the fourth edition of Cineville which was held completely online in April 2021, became the largest student-run film festival in the country (by leaps and bounds). Over four days, sixteen films from a variety of genres became a part of the festival, and a dozen other events including workshops and panel discussions with the directors were hosted. It covered everything right from travel Film-making to shooting in the wild. Drishyam received four hundred plus entries from more than fifteen different countries and major names in the cinema space like the screenwriting software final draft and the online streaming platform Mubi chose to associate with us as sponsors. We have been planning even bigger things for the fifth edition ever since.
We are delighted to announce that the fifth edition of Cineville is being held on 9th-12th April 2022, this year we are going hybrid, combining the reach of the online, and the personal connection of the offline medium. This year we have partnered with the popular online VoD platform MoviGarage where all films that are a part of CAFF'22 will be available for streaming for four days. We plan to bring about fifteen films and host several offline events like panel discussions and workshops on the college premises on the 11th and 12th of April. As always, with Cineville we endeavor to provide a novel experience that takes the best of indie cinema to the most passionate of its audience. This year, for Drishyam we have two categories, fiction, and documentary and we are looking forward to receiving inspiring work from all over the globe. Along with Drishyam, we are also organizing the ultimate quiz that dives into the depths of filmmaking and its history, Quizzard of Oz, and a poster-making competition ChitraKashi that provides you with the opportunity to share your perception of cinema and rediscover what the film world means to you (and win cash prizes up to Rs.5000). The registration for all our competitions is open till 31st March. You can find more information about them and the registration form through our Instagram handle.
All updates regarding the film festival will be there first on our social media pages and Website so make sure you follow us and become a part of this one-of-a-kind experience of cinema and storytelling.