The 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is here and 75 talented filmmakers and artists have been handpicked from all over India to join the third edition of the 75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow initiative.

The much-awaited list of the participants, who were selected by the Selection Jury and the Grand Jury panels has been announced. The promising cinematic talents of Tomorrow hail form the 19 different States and Union Territories of India, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The highest number of selections are from Maharashtra, followed by Delhi, West Bengal, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.

Speaking about this edition Union Minister Shri Anurag Singh Thakur congratulated all the winners and said “This year, we are once again having 75 talented young creators across 10 categories from all over India as part of the 75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow”. He further said that he looked forward to the wonderful short films that will be produced as part of the filmmaking challenge. The Minister has also said that he hoped that all of the winners could gain knowledge through the specially planned masterclasses and sessions, experience the business of cinema as it takes place at the Film Bazaar, and forge valuable connections through the Talent Camp. “This initiative is a crucial pit stop in India’s race to becoming the Content Subcontinent of the world”, he concluded.

This year, participants will also join from interiors of the country, some of the places being Bishnupur (Manipur), Jagatsinghpur (Odisha), and Sadarpur (Madhya Pradesh).

The list of winners, by cinematic field and state, can be found on the IFFI website.

The 75 participants have been chosen from a pool of over 600 applications based on their talents in the following crafts of filmmaking- Direction, Scriptwriting, Cinematography, Acting, Editing, Playback Singing, Music Composition, Costume-and-Makeup, Art Design, and Animation, Visual Effects (VFX), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). There are 18 artists from the Direction category, 13 artists belong to the Animation, VFX, AR & VR category, and 10 from the field of cinematography.

Most notably, the maximum number of applications were received from the Animation, Visual Effects (VFX), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) category. This is in line with the Government of India’s pursuit of expediting India’s AVGC-XR sector.

While all the participants are under the age of 35, the youngest participant is Shashwat Shukla, from Mumbai, Maharashtra, aged 18, in the Music Composition/ Sound Design category.

The 75 creative minds of this edition will attend following interventions at the upcoming edition of IFFI:

This year, specially curated masterclasses will be organized for the 75 creative minds.

In his masterclass on Direction, Shri. Umesh Shukla will present a case study on screenwriting and directing for Oh My God!, and veteran scriptwriter Shri. Charudutt Acharya, who has worked extensively on Television, OTT and films will mentor the evolution of script from traditional platforms to the new technology. In a masterclass on animation, award winning creator, Ms. Charuvi Agrawal of the Charuvi Design Labs will share her ideas about telling India’s stories through utilizing animation and visual effects. In addition to this, NFDC has organized a virtual masterclass with Shri. Florian Weghorn, Program Manager, Berlinale Talents, will provide mentoring on utilizing “Film Festivals as a Launchpad for new Talent”.

Finally, the participants will also get the opportunity to attend a session on a very important subject of financing their films. They will get the opportunity to gain knowledge and interact with the masters of the sector during the sessions.

The participants will get the opportunity to showcase and exhibit their talents, as they will take part in a group competition to produce short films as part of the “48 Hour Filmmaking Challenge”. Through their films, the participants will showcase their interpretation of “Mission LiFE”, in all but 48 hours. The competition has been conceived by NFDC in partnership with Shorts International, a UK based company, which is a worldwide network dedicated to short films. horts TV has the world’s largest catalog of high-quality short movies and series available on TV, on mobile, online, and in theaters, and also produces original short film content for broadcasters and brands.

A guided tour of Film Bazaar will allow the participants to witness the business of cinema as it takes place.  Film Bazaar, the business arm of the festival has various elements, such as Co Production Market, Work In Progress Lab, Viewing Room, Screenwriters’ Lab, Market Screenings, Producers’ Workshop, Knowledge Series, Book to Box Office.

This year’s Book to Box Office segment will have ‘The Story Ink’ as a partner to provide creative authors a platform to submit their work and introduce these stories to the producers.

A CMOT Talent Camp is being organized to allow the participants to network with the representatives of the leading companies of India’s Media and Entertainment sector, including production houses, AVGC companies, and studios, among others.. At this recruitment drive, the participants will pitch their ideas/ concepts/ skills/ previous work to obtain an employment opportunity with Industry's leading names.

The 75 participants for this edition were selected by jury panels comprising of the following stalwarts-

Grand Jury-

Shreya Ghoshal (Playback Singing)

A Sreekar Prasad (Editing)

Manoj Joshi (Acting)

Veera Kapur (Costume and Make-Up)

Priya Seth (Cinematography)

Saraswathi Vani Balgam (Animation, VFX, AR-VR)

Saleel Kulkarni (Music Composition)

Umesh Shukla (Direction)

Sabu Cyril (Art Direction)

Aseem Arora (Scriptwriting)

Selection Jury-

Manoj Singh Tiger (Acting)

Nidhi Hegde (Acting)

Abhishek Jain (Direction)

Manish Sharma (Direction)

Charudutt Acharya (Scriptwriting)

Deepak Kingrani (Scriptwriting)

Charuvi Agrawal (Animation, VFX, AR-VR)

Deepak Singh (Animation, VFX, AR-VR)

Naveen Nooli (Editing)

Suresh Pai (Editing)

Dharam Gulati (Cinematography)

Subhransu Das (Cinematography)

Nachiket Barve (Costume and Make-Up)

Bishakh Jyoti (Playback Singing)

Anmol Bhave (Music Composition)

Sabyasachi Bose (Art Direction)

The “75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow” is a novel initiative and brainchild of Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shri Anurag Thakur, to identify, nurture and showcase the young cinematic talents from across India. As part of the initiative, the participants get a platform to showcase their talent at the international stage. It was launched to commemorate the celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav at the 2021 edition of IFFI.

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Pragya Paliwal/Saurabh Singh