Preaching through short films

KOCHI: For someone who has a passion towards film-making, directing short-films is always considered the first step. But for Fr Varghese Lal from Kottayam, making short-films was always his passion. His work includes doing continuous research in this genre and till now,  he has made around 20 short-films.
Fr Varghese who is a priest of Malankara Orthodox Church started making short-films in 2006. From then, he has been directing and producing films of social concern. He believes that films are the best medium to communicate to the people something, which is important. He takes an example from the Bible, “Just like Jesus Christ communicated to the people through stories. If we want to convey any message this is the easiest way to communicate to the people. So I decided to bring out the social issues through these short-films,” said Fr Varghese.

Besides preaching, this vicar knows how to make stories that matter. After doing his MA in Cinema and Television from the Mahatma Gandhi University, he did M.Phil from School of Letters in the subject ‘Film and Time’. Now he is presently doing his P.hd in ‘New Media and Cinema’ as he believes that in order to create an impact on the people, the subject should be well-researched.

The themes he uses are based on issues related to social media. From his first short-film ‘Thirst for Life’ which was based on the subject of HIV and AIDS to other short-films, it focuses on social issues which  grab the attention of the audience. If his short-film ‘You Turn’ deals with the subject on alcohol addiction, ‘Homework’ deals with parenting. All his stories are inspired from the things that he has witnessed personally. One of them is a short-film ‘ Mazhakinavu’. “During my seminary days, I got an opportunity to spend some time in North India. There I found  water scarcity in the terrains. 

I  wanted to spread awareness about the need to conserve water. This short-film is about a boy in the terrain who is dreaming that rain is coming,” says the priest.  His latest short-film ‘Tag’ has created a buzz and has even generated three lakh views.

The story is based on how a teenage girl is tagged through social media and she attempts suicide. “I used the title as ‘Tag’ as it is a most commonly used term among the youths and issues related to social media is always on the rise and it is a means of communication of the new era,” said Fr Varghese.

Although he had to face a lot of criticisms when he initally started directing short-films, now he is getting a good response from the audience. “I have a plan to make more films and I am planning to do a feature film in future,” he said.