Helping young talents flourish
Director Jayendra Panchapakesan feels that the film industry should give more opportunity to budding filmmakers to showcase their skills.
He might not have wielded the megaphone for feature films for six years now, but, this adman-film director keeps himself updated with all that’s happening in the film industry. Director of the film 180, Jayendra is currently writing the script for his next, which will go on floors by May.
The co-founder of Real Image Media Technologies and Qube Cinema, Jayendra talks about channelising fresh, young talent in a mature way. “There are a lot of aspiring filmmakers out there. Though they are talented, they might not get an opportunity to showcase the same. There is no organised way of showcasing young filmmakers. That’s how we decided to start a short film contest called ‘First Clap’. The top five shortlisted films will be selected based on feedback from industry experts and audience voting,” says Jayendra.
Aimed at finding new talent and giving them the opportunity to showcase their work on the big screen, Jayendra is excited about the project — “The winning filmmaker will be given the chance to pitch a script to 2D Entertainment, owned by actor Suriya, and the winners will also be offered the opportunity to intern with the company on a film project as well!”
Jayendra, who conceived and directed India’s first concert film Margazhi Raagam, says, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all the contestants to associate with industry bigwigs as well as have their movie screened across the state, ensuring a much wider reach and direct audience feedback.”
One of the co-founders of Qube Cinema, he is happy the way the film watching experience has changed over the years. He shares, “The introduction of Dolby Atmos sound has stepped up the experience of watching a movie. It gives you a more immersive feeling, which everyone is enjoying.”
The filmmaker also says that theatre is not the only outlet for budding filmmakers — “There are web series and a whole lot of avenues for the films to be screened. Be it an indie or a mainstream film, if the script is interesting and the film is well-made, one can easily woo the audience,” sums up the filmmaker.