Head to a SoBo cafe to watch four rare short films

A still from I See You

In 2014, Manjari Makijany had been shooting a short film with Tom Alter, called The Corner Table. The location that the Los Angeles-based filmmaker had chosen was The Pantry, which she describes as a "charming" SoBo cafe. And in the process of completing the film, she hit upon an idea - why not take things one step forward and use the space as a venue for screening short films?

With that in mind, she got in touch with Shamiana Short Film Club, who joined hands with Mac Productions, which Makijany's father had started. And that led to the birth of Short Film Nights at The Pantry, an event that returns for another edition this week.

"The idea was to give the audience in Mumbai access to films that I get to watch at festivals around the world, but which might not be screened here in the city," Makijany tells us, adding that the four selections this time around feature an equal mix of Indian and international directors.

Manjari Makijany

These films are Very Grave Robbers, Dr Elevator, Unbound and I See You. Very Grave Robbers deals with two burglars who find themselves caught in a memorial service while carrying out a home invasion, which forces them to blend in with the crowd to escape being noticed. Dr Elevator is a comic caper about a PhD "doctor" stuck in a lift with a wheelchair-bound man and a pregnant woman whose water is breaking. Unbound tells the fantastical tale of a young girl forced to join a silk-manufacturing factory to provide for her impoverished family, and who gradually starts metamorphosing into a silkworm herself. And I See You, which Makijany has directed, is about a terrorist on a deadly mission who changes his mind after meeting a cherubic girl in a crowded subway.

The entire exercise, however, is aimed at more people sending submissions for their own films to be screened. So, do that if you want your work to be showcased as well. And in the meantime, head over to the SoBo café for the upcoming edition.

ON: May 25, 8 pm
AT: The Pantry, Yashwant Chambers, Fort.
LOG ON TO: shortfilm- nights@gmail.com to submit your short

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