DFF : A return to offline roots

The Documentary Film Festival (DFF) is the annual flagship event of the Film Society of Sophia College, (Autonomous) (FilmSoc). FilmSoc is run by the Department of Strategic Communication and Journalism. The event marks the end of another labourious, and fruitful academic year for FilmSoc.

DFF involves the screening of several documentaries of various genres. These are screened in the college’s convention centre for two days. After careful consideration and deliberations by the curation team where they review the suggestions that are given by the committee members, four films are selected to be screened per day. Parameters such as duration, genre and content are kept in mind whilst shortlisting the films. "Films with heavy political content, for example, are followed by a light-hearted documentary to bring about a balance", said Megha Ganguly, a final year undergraduate student of strategic communication. She is also the committee head for FilmSoc.

After the screenings, students are given an opportunity to interact with the filmmakers and crew.. Questions are asked and hands are raised, and the curiosity only grows with each answer.

2020 ushered in a new normal for all of us and prompted the festival to be shifted online. Documentaries were discussed over a period of two weeks instead of two days. Zoom meetings replaced the brick and mortar interactions. The tech team was needed more than ever to ensure no digital mishaps interrupted them. Students were provided access to the films prior and came to the discussion with questions ready in hand.

Transitioning back into an on-ground event is no easy feat and comes with its own set of challenges. During the online sessions, only the organising, blog, publicity and tech teams were required. Now, in a physical set up, logistics, marketing, hospitality, and general volunteers have been added to the list. Anezka Saraogi, also a final year undergraduate student of strategic communication and the head of team publicity said , "I think the biggest challenge was figuring out the modus operandi of an event like this on-campus. Since it has been online for two years, our scope of work was very limited. But this time, it has expanded so we had to take more time to work on it. Despite being in the third year, it was a first for us as well; sponsors are invited to set up stalls in the canteen extension. The purpose is to raise funds and create a buzz around the event.”

This will be the 9th edition of DFF. Students from all three years are excited and eagerly anticipating the arrival of the festival. The students admit that being exposed to these multifaceted pieces of cinema has helped them understand the production that goes into making a documentary. "DFF definitely brings out films which are worth watching and we learn the different a

spects of cinema from it," said Rianna Tarapore, a second year strategic communication and journalism student.

Notions of low budget documentaries not being impactful were also broken for most of the students. 'Supermen of Malegaon', a documentary by Faiza Ahmad Khan that was screened last year is still fondly remembered as being entertaining and humourous.

With the curtain raiser (a documentary film that marks the beginning of the event) scheduled to be on the 3rd of February and the main days on the 10th and 11th of February, the society has pulled up their socks and are striving to ensure that this year proves to be successful, akin to its predecessors. They hope that the growing legacy that is fostered every year continues to reach new heights.

DFF 2019

Source : FilmSoc - Instagram