Never Ending Story
Film Festival

Category 1 Punjabi

This category is an opportunity for young Punjabi speaking students to visualise themes and intricacies from their own culture and language through the medium of short films.

Chitkara University is located in Chandigarh where one of the primary languages spoken is Punjabi. The city’s indistinguishable cultural proximity to Punjab makes it the ideal place for providing platform to regional short films made in Punajbi language.

Language is an indispensable part of cultural expression (in any work of arts) and knowledge. It contains references that cannot be accurately translated to a people outside of those who are acquainted with it. Works of art created in vernaculars and by people of the culture keep up the legacy of original stories about the people from the culture.

To celebrate the peculiarities of Punjabi culture we invite all kinds of short films of any genre made in Punjabi language. This category is also an opportunity for young Punjabi speaking students to visualise themes and intricacies from their own culture and language through the medium of short films.

Category 1 FICTION

The short fiction category of film invites stories that creatively explore ideas, narratives, meanings, style and form coming from fantasy and imagination.

The unique charm and spell that films cast on its audience is due to its ability to ground them in the filmmaker's awareness of the outside world, the different elements that surround their world and the characterisation of people placed in those elements. Tales told through motion pictures demand a kind of sensory engagement that stays with the viewers for a long time.

The short fiction category of film invites stories that creatively explore ideas, narratives, meanings, style and form coming from fantasy and imagination. This category seeks to celebrate the distinctively personal sense and perception of the creator's thought and awareness.

Category 1 NON-FICTION

In this category we seek films as a form of cultural expression that capture real time events, ideas and stories that require our careful attention and become the starting point of some interesting conversations for the world we inhabit.

Non-fiction films as an exploration of the documentary format has provoked thought and dialogue about matters and issues that concern the society and the world. They have acted as an important source of knowledge and critical discussion that open up the sides of society, nations, people, natural world etc. to enable people to embrace the complexity in which we live. This kind of cinema is crucial in shaping how we progress and move forward as a society by making use of the creative medium of narrative formation, technological tools, and a thoughtful gaze in the form of a lens.

In this category we seek films as a form of cultural expression that capture real time events, ideas and stories that require our careful attention and become the starting point of some interesting conversations for the world we inhabit. The kind of films that take exploration of our realities towards newer horizons.

Category 1 ANIMATION/
Experimental

This category celebrates the use of animation and experimental films that have flavours thatb delve into finding new depths of storytelling.

Animation is an exemplary form of storytelling that has a very different psychic effect on the viewer. An element that makes the sensory experience unique is its ability to harness optical phenomena that makes possible creation of motion by making use of still images. The medium has evolved from the traditional form of animation that required hand painting or drawing each frame to now more evolved forms of 3D animation.

In recognition of this unique storytelling format the festival encourages animators (both 2D and 3D animators) to come forward with their distinct stories that take viewers through an enjoyable journey.

Additionally, it is the experiments with existing formats that have made possible for art and art forms to evolve in the ways we experience them today. Valuing these insights from students who are learning today gives exisitng mediums a fertile ground to take this forward. Thus, the festival encourages out of the box thinking and welcomes experimental films of all kinds- live-action and animation wherein filmmakers have attempted valuable interventions in process, form or the use of tools and technology.