Mobile phones as a social game-changer

Bhanu P Lohumi

Short films and documentaries are a powerful medium to convey your problems to the authorities and create an impact to trigger a change and mobile phones are portable, small, and cheap tools to start with.

National award winning film-maker Vivek Mohan held a workshop on the power of cinema for the residents of remote villages of Karenlu and Khodaghot in Chamba district. He exhorted them to highlight local issues and problems such as bad roads, poor connectivity, drug abuse, overloading of vehicles, and social problems through films.  

“The motive of the workshop was to make people aware that mobile phones can be used as a medium to shoot films without incurring any expenses and highlight the problems of rural areas, which normally escape the notice of the authorities concerned. Nowadays, people shoot videos and it is just a matter of giving them a story,” says Mohan.

A shot movie by him “Bus stop” and other films by local volunteers were also screened and the villagers were given hands-on information about the technical aspects of film making, how to club scattered ideas into a story-telling video, and packaging of film. The response was overwhelming; especially women took keen interest in exploring various facets of short films. “We will also provide a platform for the screening of good movies made by local actors and directors along with technical support,” he says. “There is no dearth of talent in the state and our endeavour is to give an opportunity to talented people, especially the youth, inclined towards creativity,” he adds.  

The workshop was organised by a Delhi-based NGO and was the first initiative of its kind to screen films and making rural people aware about films and film making. More such workshops would be organised in times to come, said Mohan.

In fact, short films are not a condensed form of long feature films but a different narrative of feature-film storytelling that can pin down what is specific to short-film storytelling, without being formulaic or restrictive of students’ creativity.