The 1st Edition of GFF | 20 Dec 2009 Sunday @ Cafe Kaffee Kuchh

It was around 3 : 30 that we were done with borrowing all the stuff , the projector, amplifier, speakers and the screen etc . and brought it all to the venue - Cafe Kaffee Kuchh , an open volunteer Cafe.
The place was a bit dirty .. so I borrowed a big ( professional ;) broom from the near by petrol pump and cleaned the floor before we spread the 'durrhi' on the floor.


The volunteers at the cafe by then were planning the logistics for tea and snacks.
We unpacked the extension cords and spread the wires and started fiddling with the high end borrowed gadgets.


Some filmmakers too dropped in to submit their last minute entries ( the festival was ' bring your own film' festival ) .
My friend Moonstar was helping me out in all this and Preet Arjun Singh was busy setting up all the equipments and wirings.
By five we were ready with the technical stuff. Filmmakers were there.. along with their friends and families and number was increasing every minute.
Before the first film was beamed, the number of audience crossed 100 !
Was I expecting it or not ? Well deep in my heart yes .. i knew we will have that many audience !

Some Pics from the Fest :






The Filmmakers and their films which were screened at the Festival :

1. Maninder Singh Sodhi : Spirit of Holla Mohalla

2. Ankur Kapoor : Voices of Reason | Tomorrow | Child's play | Humsab Bandar Hain | When on road

3. Gaurav Rana : Time Machine | Fading steps

4. Varundeep Singh : The Race

5. Hemant Goswami : Sports in India | Babulal - The last voice

6. Dhiraj : Smoke

7. Shagun : Short commercials on HP | Nokia | Dirt is good | Virgin mobile

8. Puneet Tandon : Desh ke Khilaaf

9. Sumit Pal : Umeed

10. Sonal : Rock Garden

11. Hitesh Bali & Vinay Saini : Rafta Rafta Zindagi

12. Puneet Arora and Vineet Pawar : Galti Kiski

13. Siddharth : Teenagers and 60s and today

The best part of this edition of GFF was that we screened all the films which we received as we went by 'bring your own film ' policy. Without any theme bounding the festival, the thing that made film festival more attractive was that its programming comprised of videos from various genre and kinds. The package comprised of documentary , fiction, comedy , animations, serious , fun , issue based films and music videos etc . All in all a great package to watch !

So what was it that pulled people to this little organized film festival in a grungy surrounding with films made by local filmmakers including amateurs ?! It was nothing but the 'passion' . It was passion and respect for the art that made people sit on that chilling winter night just to watch what all city filmmakers have to show. That is what has been missing in most of the Business oriented film festivals in the cities before this.To check what does everyone wants , it as best to think what people don't want !
Having been attended a number of national and international film festivals , I personally found that most of them have little space for Amateur and first time filmmakers . With their work neglected and ignored and festivals they are left with lesser motivation to work on their ideas in pipeline.
Also the 'Entry fee' and 'form filling' is one of the biggest deterrent for the filmmakers.( Don't we know artists are a bit lazy about paper work !!)
So we got good number of entries.
Second thing was to procure the screening equipment. Everything from projector to speakers to laptop was borrowed from friend circle.
The space ofcourse as I said earlier , The Cafe Kaffee Kuchh inspired the whole concept of cozy gathering .
Next came publicizing the event !! Do we really need sponsors until and unless we are planning to make money out of it ? NO !
Everyone has his own indie media .. the ever increasing online Social networking and his own space to shout out aloud ! Infact I must tell that most of the filmmakers were my friends on Facebook . And best part was that none of them was friend to each other ( now ofcourse we all are a strong network )
And ofcourse most of Chandigarh press media has always been supportive to our little initiatives with no money to spend on ads etc. ( Cheers to them !)
So when everything was in so very much its place only thing was to connect it all .. the filmmakers, the audience, and the issues and thats where I think I was of some help to play the pivotal role in connecting everything in a string.
The string is ever-growing. I was more than happy to see the glow on face of first time filmmakers on a platform which I myself missed in my initial days of filmmaking and thats the reward I cherish !
More so , filmmakers and participants are already collaborating on projects and are already rolling their cameras an calling it a shot ! Isn't that what Garage film festival was supposed to do i.e ignite the volatile minds with all the possibilities ahead !

The Curtain raiser : Indian Express

A superb poster for GFF by a Volunteer - Abhilash KV

The next thing which was needed most was an attractive poster that could convey the concept of the film festival . Abhilash has always been helpful in working out attractive posters. He is presently studying @ NIFT, Bangalore. I just explained him the concept and what he came up with was exactly what I was looking for ! This poster was used for propagating the idea by word of mouth on social networking websites in friend circles.

The Concept behind GFF -How it all began

One Sunday , the 13th December 2005 , at the volunteer run cafe - Cafe Kaffee Kuch,Chandigarh, me and my friend Gyan was thinking over what should we do next sunday at the cafe and in no time an idea struck to my mind , why not a film festival . 

A grungy corner of the Cafe along with the positive synergy,coziness and nonprofit-ness of the cafe inspired the whole concept. 

Bang 7 days later at the very same place happened the first ever 'Garage Film Festival' !

To have detailed idea of what  was the whole concept about ,you may kindly go through the E-mail below which i posted to my friend circle, animation/mass-communication academies and press :

'Hi Friends !

 I'm Dr Gaurav Chhabra an Independent filmmaker based in Chandigarh.Good if you know me or else we are catching up this Sunday.Coming Sunday (20th Dec) we are planning to organize a 'Garage Film Festival' at a venue where me and some of my friends catch up to share a cup of tea and ideas on Sundays viz  ' Cafe Kafee Kuchh'  - an open

informal cafe run by volunteers , in Sec-15
Well ,as the name suggests it is a no frill and an informal film festival. We have decided to screen short films made by local filmmakers . It is a kind of ' bring your own film' festival. Chandigarh's first ofcourse !

So here we are inviting you and your students to send in their Short Films for screening at the festival. The entries may be dropped in @ Hno. 32, Sector 11-A, Chandigarh after prior coordination over
undermentioned phone no.( Ok let me mention here also : 9888 340 250 .Thats mine )


FAQs ( Haha .. no one asked me yet but still they might be the frequently asked ones ... )

1. Entry fees for films ?: You are an artist and we respect you for your efforts to make this world a better place.So NO FEES is required for entry of films. I am a bankrupt filmmaker too. So I do understand the situation ;)

2. Entry to the festival ?: No passes required  | No print invites | No inaugurations crap | Come one come all | Ofcourse for free ! Oh well if you are a riche rich person.. you can contribute to the basic expenditures of the film festival as much as you want ! :D

3. What kind of films ?? : This is an open platform for video artists . We are no one to stop you from screening your film. We are just
organizing ( of-course non-commercially ) the festival. So your film can be about any thing under sun (and beyond) However it should be a film and not a picnik/travel/birthday party fun video etc .Also we are NOT inviting powerpoint presentations etc !!  I hope you get the point!! :) The film may have been shot on any format Mini Dv.. HD .. mobile
phone or what ever . As long as it is a film we would love to screen it.

4. Duration of the film ? : We are looking for films ideally under 10 min ( but we dont really care 2-3 minutes plus minus if the film is a 'dhaansu' one.

5. How many films can  a person submit : Hmm... 1.. 2.. 3.. 4... 5..as many you want. But depending on the number of entries and our planned duration of festival ( 2 hrs) I think we would be able to screen on an avg. max of 3 films per entrant. Lets see !

6. Do i get a prize ? : haha! Prize !?! You made a film . That is a big prize for you ! And i told you earlier  that this is a non commercial festival and I am a bankrupt person too ! We are borrowing projector and screen and other stuff !! ;)

7. How many people will participate ? : Number of filmmakers depends on you. And number of Audience , may be around 15 may be 25 but on an avg would be around 30 . Huh .. that is a small number and we are still calling it a festival ? See our only aim of this festival is to share a cup of tea and ideas and have a productive discussion session ofcourse in addition to watching films , so we really don't care HOW many people come but yes we do care WHO comes :)

8. What else should I know ?: You should know that its NOT just another posh, flashy film festival ! Its a GARAGE film festival and it is supposed to be grungy. We will be screening our films in open in an unorganized setting ( refer image attached ) . Some chairs will be small some big..others will have 'moodha' and some will get 'gaddi' and some can sit on the 'durrhy' .Ofcourse you can bring ur favorite chair along if you want to relax back ! And its gonna be December 20 ...so would be cold ! The Cafe Kaafee Kuch will offer you soup and tea and some snacks. You can pay for it whatever you feel like  {Cafe Kaffee kuch doesn't gives bills.. but an empty envelope , in which you can put any amount you like , no one checks it too }  AND we would love if you bring some home made snacks to share with fellow audiences. Yummm! 

9. SUBMISSION DEADLINE ? : There are hundred things one is engrossed in life.So you might be busy , its okie . You can ask me to collect the film from your house/office . I dont mind ! I love riding both my bullet and my bicycle. I will zoom in at your place to pick up the DVDs. You can offer me a Kadak Tea and Parle-G biscuits in return. Or you can come to my place to pass me DVDs and then i can offer you the same. My address is H no 32, Sector 11 A, Chandigarh. No forms etc are required to be filled for submissions ( now that is cool , isnt it ? )
You can submit your films any day before 20th Dec ( preferable between 16th-19th dec ) so that we can store it in our laptop for screening and preview its proper run ( you know how sometimes some players just *%^$ up things at last moments. Actually we dont mind even if you wake up and come with your film 10 min ahead of screenings ! ;)

10 . What is expected from the entrants? :
We expect from you :
a. a good film suitable for all age groups. :P
b. Mobiles on silent/vibrators in screenings ( oh yes , Im serious about it !!! )
c. Filmmakers must be present for 'Meet The talent' session at the festival.
d. No advertising allowed

11. Want to suggest something ??: Call up at my number ( Now its below as well as above :P ) 9888 340 250

Attached along with this was a the following little amateur poster i designed myself.'