Bringing the best of global Campus Cinema: U-special International Campus Film Festival

The second edition of the U-Special International Campus Film Festival is back in the capital with 56 campus films.

The festival, which held public screenings on 11 and 12 March at the Instituto Cervantes, New Delhi, is now travelling to educational institutions around the city till 16 March.

Some of the colleges on the festival's itinerary are Miranda House, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, and Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies. The screenings are held exclusively for students.

The selection at the festival includes short films, documentaries, animation films and music videos from 25 universities and educational institutions.

A special package of films made by Iranian students is also being showcased this year.

The opening film Snowflakes, directed by Elif Nur Kayalar from Istanbul Sehir University in Turkey, is a documentary about people with albinism living in Turkey. Albinism is a rare genetic condition that causes a reduction in the amount of the pigment melanin generated in the skin, hair, and eyes. The social relations, personal affairs, and educational lives of people with this condition are often affected adversely.

Festival founder director Rao Narender Yadav said, "U-Special International Campus Film Festival is a creative platform for the next generation of filmmakers to tell their stories, inspire hope, and provoke change through filmmaking."

Yadav said the second edition had received "tremendous response" from young filmmakers across the globe. "Given the number of entries we have received from a large number of institutions across the globe, Campus Cinema is bound to become popular in the years to come," he said.

Some prominent campus films from international universities in the list this year are Forest Of Echoes by Luz Olivares Capelle (Austria), Luck Ma by Li Xiang (China), All About Emily by Valentina Casadei (Italy), Re Examination by Lee Pei-Chin (Taiwan), and Who I Am by Monika Wilczynska (UK).

The Indian selection includes Point & Shoot by Harsimran Kaur Anand, Rocket by Mohit Arora, Bijli Giri by Arnav Nanduri, Bismaar Ghar by Shreyas Dasharathe, Rudra by V Karthik Mohan, and Rihaii (music video) by Sreecheta Das.

The filmmakers are students of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, National Institute of Design, Jamia Millia Islamia university, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, VIT university, and Whistling Woods International.