Bangalore kids to learn art of filmmaking

Bangalore, Oct 17 (IANS) It's going to be a mini club of young and aspiring filmmakers. A group of children in Bangalore is going spend a month learning the art of filmmaking.

The workshop beginning Oct 31 will teach the youngsters minute details of filmmaking - from script writing, camera handling, lighting and make-up to acting.

At the end of the camp, the children will make a short film, based on the script written by them.

"The purpose behind conducting the filmmaking camp is to identity young talent and further polish their skills," Reena A Mirpuri, director of projects for Foresee Venture, a Bangalore-based film production company, told IANS.

Foresee Venture is conducting the camp, where each pupil will be charged Rs.4,500.

"After screening around 100 applications, we have selected 20 children to be part of the workshop. All the participating children will be in the age group of 9-15 years," added Mirpuri.

A group of technicians and filmmakers under the guidance of filmmaker and photographer Balchander M. Gandhekar, an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, will train the children.

"Filmmaking is dominated by adults. There are lots of young people who don't have a platform to showcase their talent. The camp will give them an opportunity to test their skills and further nourish it," said Gandhekar.

"If the children have potential to grow up as good filmmakers, we are going to train them further," he added.

The children are excited about the camp.

"Cinema has always fascinated me and I am excited to learn the tricks of filmmaking at the camp," said Seema Rai, a student of Class 6.

Echoing Seema, Rajat Sharma, a student of Class 8, said that he planned to be a filmmaker and was excited to attend the workshop.

"I want to be a filmmaker and the workshop will be my launching pad as a film director. I am waiting for the camp to start," said Rajat.

"We'll be charging the (Rs.4,500) fee as all the equipments used for the purpose of making cinema are quite costly. Otherwise the faculties will be training the children on a voluntary basis," informed Reena.