Creating Value in Unprecedented Times: Whistling Woods International Celebrates Cinema in a 3-Day Virtual Knowledge Festival
The 9th edition
of Celebrate Cinema witnessed the presence of eminent personalities like Sudip
Sharma, Jaideep Ahlawat, Amish Tripathi, Anubhav Sinha, TaapseePannu, Richie
Mehta to name a few
Creativity can never be contained no matter what, and the
9th edition of Celebrate Cinema bore perfect resonance to this thought.
Whistling Woods International (WWI), Asia’s premier film, communication, and
creative arts institute hosted one of its most renowned annual events –
Celebrate Cinema 2020 over a span of three days. Scheduled between November
26-28, 2020, while keeping the current circumstances in mind, this year’s
celebration was entirely held as a digital event. Owing to the unprecedented
times, WWI pledged the proceeds raised from the sale of the tickets for
Celebrate Cinema 2020 shall be contributed towards the welfare and well-being
of COVID-19 warriors.
There was no shortage of
enthusiasm and excitement amongst all of those involved, as the three-day
celebration of virtual masterclasses, celebrity panel discussions and workshops
unfolded. Over the course of these events, participants gained invaluable
insights into every facet of the media and entertainment industry.
“Since
its inception WWI has endeavoured to offer film and media enthusiast and
aspirants a platform to widen their horizons & knowledge from Industry
experts. Celebrate Cinema is our way of turning this vision into a reality. I
am extremely grateful to all the guests for being part of this year’s event and
their invaluable contribution. These three days have enriched everyone who
participated, and I would also like to thank the team of students, faculty and
staff for putting together such a great virtual event.”, said Meghna GhaiPuri, President, WWI.
The opening segment of the event featured a panel
discussion entitled, ‘Campus to Career: #WWIAlumniSpeak’. In a session
moderated by Rahul Puri, Head of Academics, WWI, actors AahanaKumra and
Shashank Arora, actor-director Divyang Thakkar, editor Nitin Baid, creative
producer Maharrsh Shah, and director AratiKadav shared their learnings at WWI
and discussed the ways in which their experience helped propel them to the
heights of fame and success. Over the course of this riveting discussion,
wisdom and humour were shared in equal measure. Each panelists emphasised the
importance of having a formal education in film and media, which helped them in
their respective career journeys.
The subsequent panel featured a masterclass led by the
talented team of ‘Paatal Lok’. In a discussion moderated by Anjum Rajabali, HOD
- Screenwriting, WWI School of Filmmaking, the cast and crew members, Sudip
Sharma (creator), Jaideep Ahlawat and Ishwak Singh (actors), Prosit Roy
(director), and Sagar Haveli (writer) delved into the crucial role of a script
in crafting a strong narrative. While Sudip Sharma shared the importance of
viewing a situation from every angle in order to craft a compelling story,
Jaideep Ahlawat encouraged the aspiring actors by underlining the importance of
advanced preparations to essay a character.
The second day of Celebrate Cinema began with a fascinating
panel – ‘Celebrate the Grand Narratives of Indian Mythology’ – featuring
Subhash Ghai, Founder & Chairman, WWI and award-winning author, Amish
Tripathi. The session was moderated by Chaitanya Chinchlikar, VP, WWI. Delving
into India’s epic cultural and mythological heritage, the panel discussed how
the lessons of the nation’s past rich civilisations can be applied in a modern
context. While praising Subhash Ghaias a modern-day philosopher, Amish Tripathi
championed the incorporation of Indian culture in modern education systems. He
also drew attention to the impact of Western, algorithm-based education on
Indian society, a shift away from traditional Indian educational models, which
emphasised using both parts of the brain. As he concluded, “Do fun
creative things to strain your right brain.”.
Following this, Anjum Rajabali moderated a masterclass with
the team of ‘Thappad’, featuring director-writer Anubhav Sinha, actors
TaapseePannu and Pavail Gulati, and writer MrunmayeeLagoo. Important societal
issues such as gender inequality and domestic violence were discussed, and
valuable lessons were learnt about the depiction of these issues in the media
and the steps society needs to take to overcome them. They also raised the
audience’s awareness of the prevalence of these issues with women of both
lower- and upper-class families.
The final day hosted an interesting discussion titled, ‘New
Directors on Netflix’, which saw the participation of debut directors Honey
Trehan and AnvitaDutt, and Srishti Arya, Director, International Original Film,
Netflix India alongside Anjum Rajabali, who moderated the session. Over the
course of this session, the audience were given deep insights into how Netflix
collaborates with content creators, and its role in promoting new talents.
Honey Trehan and AnvitaDutt further shared the stories of their breakthroughs
as first-time directors, the struggles they faced, and their ultimate journey
from script to Netflix release. Srishti Arya encapsulated Netflix’s approach by
stating, “We look for stories that have something to say, something
that is rigorous and diverse.”
The excitement and enthusiasm further continued to run high
for the final masterclass of the event, held alongside the visionaries behind
Emmy award-winning Indian crime drama, ‘Delhi Crime’. This highly anticipated
session saw Rahul Puri moderate the discussion with creator-director Richie
Mehta, executive producer Kilian Kerwin, and dialogue writer Sanyukhta Chawla
Shaikh. The conversation revolved around the making of the series –
drafting the script, collecting data to form a story, and maintaining a sense
of realism throughout. When the question of originality in cinema arose, Kilian
stated that there are plenty of new materials being produced, but the true
challenge lies in creating stories that are both original and compelling.
Richie Mehta concluded the session by stating, “The next generation of
cinema goers will be dependent on screenplays, which are limitless.”
The event also saw a plethora of insightful workshops held
in conjunction with WWI’s various schools. These sessions covered several
aspects of the media and entertainment sector with workshops on colour
correction with DaVinci Resolve, stop motion animation, Adobe Spark Post,
writing for podcast, media start-up, acting, fashion styling, among others.
Participants had the opportunity to expand their knowledge through these
workshops conducted by faculties and members of the respective fields.
WWI once again upheld its tradition of awarding meritorious
students with scholarships at the annual festival. This year SaloniSakhardande
(BA Filmmaking – Cinematography) & Akash Nayak (Advanced Diploma Filmmaking
– Producing) were awarded the Shri Amitabh Bachchan Scholarship 2020 and
Sunanda Murali Manohar Scholarship 2020, respectively. Upon announcing the
awards, Subhash Ghai shared the following words of wisdom, "A scholarship
is not just a reward, but a responsibility on a student to do even better in
life and become a thought leader to inspire younger generations.”
Like previous years, Celebrate Cinema 2020 also highlighted
the social cause of Organ Donation. Emphasising on the importance of this year'
social cause, WWI celebrated Organ Donation Day on the second day of the annual
event, encouraging the participants to pledge to donate organs and be life
savers.
As Celebrate Cinema 2020 ended on a high note, the
participants parted with expanded horizons and knowledge about the Indian media
& entertainment industry.
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