India summed up the results of PlayButton Short Film Festival 2020, 2nd Edition

In Chennai, the PlayButton Short Film Festival has been held. This year, the film festival passed with the assistance of the TV BRICS International Network. Within the competition, 10 best movies which won awards in 3 main categories were defined: movies in Tamil, Indian movies in other languages, and the international competition. The international category focused on 2 finalists which won the TV BRICS nomination.

The Empty Spring by a 20-year-old Chinese director Arcklot Hal has been named the best in the TV BRICS Best International Short Film nomination. The director from Wuhai (the Autonomous Area of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China) is the author of 3 short feature films distinguished by a set of international film awards. Philosophical film The Empty Spring tellsa story of a lonely poet girl who looks for the answers to her questions in the environment and her own dreams. The new work presented at the PlayButton festival in Chennai not only received a figurine from TV BRICS, but also received the right for a TV premiere on TV BRICS channel in Russia with a possibility of further distribution among network partners in the countries of "the five".

The picture by the Italian director about the unique African musician Zoumana Téréta playing ancient instrument like a violin with strings made of horse hair became the best documentary. The director of the movie ‘So Kou - The Horse's Tail and his Master Player Zoumana Téréta’ Marco Romano is a musician himself, a founder of his own sound recording label in Mali. He devotes his documentaries to musical cultural heritage of different countries and continents.

Marco Romano, director (Italy): "I didn't expect that my movie will not only be shown at a festival, but also awarded as the best documentary. Of course, I am happy. It is very important both for me as an author, and for the whole team who worked on the movie. We shot it in Mali, Africa, in the homeland of the main character. We reported it to his family that the movie about ZoumanaTéréta was warmly accepted in India, here, at a festival. It is also important because Mali is, of course, a very poor country, but at the same time it has a unique rich culture. And it is cool that music of a Malian musician, thanks to the movie, goes out of Mali and becomes known to the worldwide audience".

The feature short film in Tamil by the director Jamer Basha "The Fourth Class" (Vagupparai) won the short film nomination of the II PlayButton Short Film Festival. The drama tells about the life of one Indian village in which the only free school closes.The narration is focused on a 4-grader who doesn't give up and wants to continue studies by all means. The television premiere of the Grand Prix winner of the PlayButton festival will be broadcasted on TV BRICS channel. 

The best movies of a festival were shown within live shows which took place in the Russian Centre of Science and Culture of Rossotrudnichestvo in Chennai. Along with the competitor movies, special screenings of the best documentaries of the countries of BRICS took place within the II PlayButton Short Film Festival, supported by a media partner TV BRICS network. So, the Indian audience could see film stories from directors from Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.

The II PlayButton Short Film Festival is held by the Indian-Russian Union of Cinematographers and the Russian Centre of Science and Culture of Rossotrudnichestvo in Chennai. The big film festival is organized to support young film directors under 35 years from India, which opens new names in Indian motion pictures. The festival is also intended to expand cooperation of Indian and Russian filmmakers in the area of co-production and to adjust exchange of experience among film industry membersfrom different countries.