Talented Indian director Umesh Kulkarni's short film, ‘Vilay' (‘Dissolution'), won the first prize in the International Competition section of the annual Thai Short Film and Video Festival which concluded in Bangkok recently.
The film, in keeping with the director's obsession with death and his slow, enigmatic style (as with his much-lauded feature film ‘The Well', that went to many international festivals), offers a moving picture of a grandson remembering his loving, welcoming grandmother, after her death, through a series of potent images.
Words are minimum, but feelings suffuse the screen of this 13-minute ‘short' that was produced by FTI.
Praising Kulkarni
“I've met Umesh at various ‘short' festivals around the world, and his work is fantastic!” raved Chalida Uabumrungjit, director of the Thai Film Foundation, which was an organiser of the festival. She informed that last year Kulkarni had also won the first prize for ‘The Three of Us.'
Well-known film festival programmer Philip Cheah, who was on the Jury, and who was familiar with Kulkarni's work, stated, “Umesh Kulkarni is clearly one of the young bright talents of India's new generation directors and ‘Dissolution' is startling for its inter-generational theme of someone who has to destroy what he loves the most. Kulkarni's craft, his visual prowess and sense of atmosphere are breathtaking !”
‘Dissolution' was one of the 15 entries in the International section that had films from countries as varied as Israel, Finland, Malaysia, Brazil and Austria (which won the second prize).
