MY JOURNEY OF ORGANIZING THE TAMIL NADU FILM FESTIVAL

I live in India. That must explain a lot. Not to mention, it also leads people to imagine so many things… India is known for its languages and its diverse culture. This is very evident in the cinema industry too.

In India, we have 7 major Film Industries based in Hindi (Bollywood), Tamil (Kollywood), Bengali (Tollywood), Malayalam (Mollywood), Telugu (Tollywood), Kannada (Sandalwood), and Punjabi (Pollywood). There are others yet to be established. Roughly 2000 to 3000 films are being produced from all these industries, belonging to various film forms like fiction features, documentaries, animations, and short films. Out of this, maybe 30 films belong to the complete commercial productions with proper revenue possibilities. All the remaining films are produced independently with budgets ranging from 15 lakhs to 4 plus crores. Except for the 30 films, every other film is competing against the other for exhibition, recognition, and doing business. In Tamil Nadu alone, 200 – 300 films are produced in one year.

Hosting a Film Festival is one good option to give good cinema opportunities, like, exhibition, recognition, and doing business.

So, came the calculated choice to host a Film Festival. Hence, the Film Festival’s name was coined as “Tamil Nadu Film Festival (TNFF).” With this name, we could host it in our capital city and take this event across the State of Tamil Nadu.

OUR VISION for the TNFF: An initiative to support independent films (Narrative Feature, Documentary, Animation, Short Film & Music Video) & artiste & artists to find business opportunities through the Tamil Nadu Film Festival.

I had long discussions with auditors about the viability of hosting a Film Festival by incorporating a FILM SOCIETY, a FILM CLUB, or a TRUST. I learned I need a team that has money and space to support the formation of such a body. Unfortunately, I could not go ahead with that option.

A proper FILM FESTIVAL will involve many money transactions, since I wanted everything to be legal, I sought the next practical and best possible solution: to organize a FILM FESTIVAL with my Registered GST licence. I went ahead with this plan in 2019 and had planned to have the 1st TAMIL NADU FILM FESTIVAL in August 2020.

LET US UNDERSTAND: WHAT IS INVOLVED IN ORGANIZING A FILM FESTIVAL?

It involves three BASIC components: ORGANIZING TEAM, FILMS & AUDIENCE.

Other important components like CELEBRITY, JURY, VENUE, MEDIA COVERAGE also play a vital role in hosting a SUCCESSFUL FILM FESTIVAL.

Basic Must GIVEAWAYS: AWARD STATUETTE, CERTIFICATES, & OFFICIAL SELECTION MEMENTOS

The underlying current for all these is the vitamin M-MONEY.

ASSUMING the vitamin M is sufficient, then more interesting components like MONETARY AWARDS, WORKSHOPS, NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES, MARKETS, INTERNATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE, VOLUNTEERS, etc., could be made possible.

HOSTING THE 1ST TAMIL NADU FILM FESTIVAL (TNFF) IN 2020

The 1st Tamil Nadu Film Festival (TNFF) was planned to be a live, in-person event. Since the whole world had to come to a stop due to COVID-19 we had to change our 1st TNFF to an online event.

The international competitive 1st Tamil Nadu Film Festival (TNFF) for all categories of films was held online from 25th October – 15th November 2020 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. This was due to the COVID pandemic.

TNFF received 400 entries from 55 countries from our contacts without any promotion on any SUBMISSION PLATFORMS. Officially selected 298 from 52 countries, had 3300 registered viewers, 12400 Views, 169 nominated films, and gave 56 Awards in 12 Award categories; Feature Film, Long Documentary Feature, Short Documentary, International Short, National Short, Animated Short Film, Music Video, Indian Student Short, International Student Short, Special Jury Mentions, Special Festival Mentions and Audience Choice Award

Since it was online, we were able to incorporate as part of the TNFF program, the INAUGURAL CEREMONY, a Panel Discussion about the “HISTORY OF TAMIL CINEMA”, a seminar on “UNDERSTANDING CONTENT ON OTT PLATFORMS”, “INITIATING NEW DIALOGUE – DIRECTOR’S MEET”, and the CLOSING CEREMONY.

The first edition of the Tamil Nadu Film Festival was a grand success, though it was held online.

CAN WE HOST THE 2ND TAMIL NADU FILM FESTIVAL (TNFF)?

Hosting the 2nd Tamil Nadu Film Festival (TNFF) became a question mark. We had to wait due to the various safety concerns and government regulations. We could not have the editions of the TNFF in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Being a person who is very conscious of the well-being of people, I did not want the spread of this dangerous COVID infection.

In 2023, we started the activities necessary to host the 2nd Tamil Nadu Film Festival (TNFF), which was to be held from August 10-19, 2024. We had to rely on the film submission platforms to receive films as entries for the competition. But, some platforms kept OUR EVENT in PRIVATE MODE since we switched from a LIVE IN-PERSON to an ONLINE EVENT in our first edition, and also because our emails were marked spam. Let me explain why we were marked as SPAM. As you all know, the famous “International Film Festival of India” happens annually in Goa, India. Parallelly, along with the festival, there is a Film Market called “Film Bazaar” that also happens. Post this market, when I try to contact the people who attended it, they do not prefer to be contacted, and are sometimes rude. People are not open when they attend such events.

We had already received submissions from our contacts for the first edition of TNFF, and now we are forced to once again receive submissions from our contacts for the 2nd edition of TNFF. This was quite a blow for us. Well, thanks to the international FILMMAKERS who did send the submissions mostly without any entry fees. Especially, I wish to acknowledge Mr. Bruno Chatelin (FILM FESTIVAL WORLD), who sent us a LARGE collection of amazing films. Because of his help, the 2nd edition of TNFF became complete.

HOSTING THE 2ND TAMIL NADU FILM FESTIVAL (TNFF) IN 2024

The 2nd Tamil Nadu Film Festival celebrated cinema through its second edition from 10-19 August 2024 in Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu.

A total of 132 films were submitted from 33 countries in Film Categories: Animated Feature, Short Documentary, Documentary Feature, Narrative Feature, Short Films, and Music Video.

Out of them, 75 films from 15 countries were officially selected and showcased in the international competition.

A total of 21 Awards were given during the Nilgiri Tahr Award Ceremony on 19th August 2024, in 5 categories: Generation Next: Grade Schooler, Generation Next: Teen, International Short Film, International Documentary Feature, and International Narrative Feature.

CAN WE HOST THE 3RD TAMIL NADU FILM FESTIVAL (TNFF) IN 2025?

The call for entries is out. The total number of entries received for this edition is very low. There is a notion among filmmakers that only Film Festivals listed on the important submission platforms are good. This notion is affecting our number of entries. The fact is that most of the best film festivals in the world receive their submissions directly via their website. Also, with no support from some submission platforms, the task of generating entries is becoming very tedious. We have a new hope in this 11th Hour from the Submission Platform FESTHOME. They have agreed to run a promotion for us. With 20 MAY 2025 as our FINAL DEADLINE, we hope we get the least required film in at least one respective Film Form.

All other activities of the TNFF are hanging mid-air. Since a Film Festival cannot happen without films, we hope we get enough films to host the 3rd TNFF. We will keep you posted…