Carter Pilcher on why Indian stories are achieving greater success internationally

Qualifying for the Oscars is every filmmaker‘s dream and Carter Pilcher, Founder and CEO of short movie entertainment company Shorts TV and also a voting member of both the BAFTA and the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), has a suggestion for the ones who aspire to make it to that list.

He says that filmmaking is a community effort, not a lone art project of an individual hence it is necessary to bring together artists across the spectrum who are at the top of their crafts and rely on their talents and innovation to deliver a ground-breaking story.

Pilcher, who is also the distributor of Oscar-nominated short films for seventeen years, was in India to give a master class on how to make a film Oscar-worthy at the 17th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival. He spoke to Firstpost about how the Indian Film Community and Film Awards bodies have started taking a greater interest in competing in the international film community in recent years, why India is in an amazing period that fuses talent, ingenuity, and breaking old norms and the rise of short film content.

Excerpts from the Interview:

Would you like to talk about the talk points of your master class at MIFF?

First, I just want to say how gratifying it was to be invited to conduct a Masterclass at MIFF, a leading Asian film festival and one which brings together an amazing collection of the world’s leading documentarians and short filmmakers. There’s nothing like it anywhere else in Asia.

The MasterClass of course went into lots of detail outlining the entire process, but I made 3 key points and hoped to leave filmmakers and others who attended with one overarching change in their mindset: that is, competing for an Oscar in the short film is entirely possible for every single filmmaker and not only that, but for India’s leading directors, actors and talent – it is the most likely route for the Indian film industry to prove its arrival as a powerhouse of international filmmaking.

The 3 key points:

a) An Oscar-nominated d film starts with a great story. The short films nominated for an Oscar are judged by members of the Academy who are working experts in short filmmaking. To compete at this top level of the short filmmaker’s craft requires a powerful story passionately told that is coldly calculated to ensure every element serves the story.

b) Very few Indian-made short films are able to be considered by the Academy today. When ShortsTV came to India 4 years ago, there were no festivals in India whose short film prizes had been accredited by the Academy of Motion Pictures. Today, two festivals have been accredited (Bengaluru Int’l Short Film Festival & Kerala Short Film Festival for short docs). This still creates only a very small number of eligible Indian films, so we at ShortsTV have created the Best of India Short Film Festival and release the top 5 films in theatres in Los Angeles for a one-week theatrical run so that these 5 additional films are qualified for the Oscars. We outlined all the possible routes for filmmakers, but hope to work closely across the subcontinent to open up as many routes as possible for the best Indian shorts to qualify and compete on the world stage.

c) The short film awards at the Oscars are a pinnacle of achievement and are highly competitive. Filmmakers cannot simply post their film off to the Academy, cross their fingers, and hope to be nominated. They must work carefully to promote their film or their issue (for documentary filmmakers) and arrange everything to serve this end.

You are also a voting member of the BAFTA and the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), so what are the aspects that a filmmaker must keep in mind to make their project Oscar-worthy?

Yes, an Oscar-worthy short film is first and foremost about telling a complete 3-act story passionately, maybe even shockingly, with all the layers and details associated with a carefully planned work of art.

Filmmaking is a community effort, not a lone art project of one individual, however. It is a bringing together and creating together of a team of artists. For a film to be recognized as one that is at the top of its craft, it must bring together artists across the spectrum who are at the top of their crafts and rely on their talents and innovation to deliver a ground-breaking story.

Several Indian filmmakers created history with their Oscar and Bafta recognition but how could they make it more frequent and fruitful?

The Indian Film Community and Film Awards bodies have certainly started to take a greater interest in competing in the international film community in recent years, making it a very exciting time for Indian filmmakers. And with a far-flung Indian diaspora, Indian stories are achieving ever-greater success internationally.

As we see it through, one clear issue to be addressed to assist filmmakers to compete for the short film awards at BAFTA and AMPAS is the small number of Indian festivals whose prizes are accredited as qualifying prizes. In addition, there should be a much more focused effort to assist Indian talent to compete. I live in the UK and know the British Council and other bodies work very closely with filmmakers whose works are winning prizes to assist them to cover the costs of international competition.

What aspects inspire you about the Indian film industry and where is the scope of improvement?

ShortsTV loves supporting the Indian film community. We feel like we’ve gotten in on the secret development of the next “atom bomb” when we get to work alongside Indian talent. India is in an amazing period that fuses talent, ingenuity and breaking old norms. We are doing everything we can to support your talent that is laying the groundwork for an international Indian film renaissance over the next 10 years that will see enormous achievement and international recognition of films from India. In my mind, South Korea is amazing—but just wait till the Indian film community gets its feet on the ground.

You also founded Shorts International in 2000 so how do you see the short film content is going to dominate the entertainment industry in days to come?

Audiences are changing more rapidly now than ever before. Short films and short content are no longer the preserve of film aficionados and arthouse cinema but are everywhere on everyone’s phone. It has taken a very long time for short films and short series to be reimagined and move back into the mainstream, but we are seeing enormous, and fast change in this direction.

During tests of the ShortsTV+ mobile OTT app, we have seen users spend 4x per week as much time as they spend on TV watching short films on their mobile phones. It’s happening!

Talk about the emergence of OTT platforms and how it has given wings to filmmakers to present their works globally?

The past few years have seen an explosion of streaming services, f OTT platforms, and of free distribution platforms. We’re actually oversaturated. The key now for audiences is to have the best “curators” to help them find the best films and best programming.

India is an important market for ShortsTV. It’s the world’s film and video laboratory right now. Many of the opportunities we are seeing elsewhere in streaming, app bundling, and other mobile viewing are starting here, on the ground with Indian audiences.

Nivedita Sharma's work experience includes covering fashion weeks in Milan, Pakistan, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Dubai, and award functions like IIFA, and TOIFA. 

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