Jays Jose Thomas, the coordinator of the Film Making Club, sat down with the Oasis English Press to talk about the club’s plans for Oasis and his experience as the coordinator.

The main responsibility of the club during the fest is to shoot the Aftermovie. In addition to this, FMaC is collaborating with the Photography Club and the Films Division, Government of India, to organize the BITS Pilani Film Festival for the first time ever. ‘The Film Festival was a dream of FMaC since 2013. This is the year in which it is finally coming to fruition,’ says Jays, as he talks about his plans for the Festival.

The first event in the Film Festival is called “Cine-Glitz”. The club, in collaboration with Embryo, has invited Mr. Abhishek Chaubey as the Chief Guest for the event. He has many critically acclaimed and controversial films like Udta Punjab and Ishqiya to his credit. 

In the second event, “Apt to Act”, participants will be given various themes, events, and crises to act out. The club is also organising another event called “Répartition du Film”, in which a famous movie will be screened and subsequently analysed by a critic. Additionally, they are organizing a vlog making competition.

One of the biggest events conducted by FMaC is “Metamorphosis”, a short-film making competition. The theme chosen by the club this year is “Yin-Yang”. In the preliminary round, the club members judge the work sent by participants and select ten films. The shortlisted films are screened in the NAB Auditorium during the fest. The club has invited renowned director Mr Shekhar Jaiswal to judge the competition.

FMaC is planning to screen three films during the festival. Additionally, the club will release six videos, including a curtain-raiser, a ‘what to expect this Oasis’ video, a stop-motion hyperlapse campus tour and a short comic sketch on Oasis and campus life.

For the aftermovie, FMaC entered into an agreement with an equipment renting company, who are sponsoring equipment worth Rs. 17 lakh just for the aftermovie. The said company would also have a stall during Oasis, and would be renting out equipment at highly subsidised rates, to teams registered in the Vlog-making competition.

Jays is optimistic about the film festival because of the enthusiastic responses he received from participating colleges.

Although there is a significant workload on their shoulders, Jays believes that his team will pull off all the events successfully. He is happy with FMaC’s progress over the years. ‘It was in 2013 that FMaC got its first camera. The current state of the club is more than what the creators could’ve imagined,’ he said proudly, before signing off.