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| Goutam Ghose with daughter Anandi at the OFE workshop in ICCR on Saturday. Picture: Anindya Shankar Ray |
I have been mad about films ever since I was a kid and when I initially heard of OFE, I didn’t think much about it. My mother attended the first OFE workshop in August mentored by Pratim D. Gupta and Anandi Ghose with Goutam Ghose, Mainak Bhaumik and Sujoy Ghosh as guest speakers.
When I came to know about all the crazy stuff that they did at the workshop, I thought, ‘That’s what I dream about doing every single day.’
Now after having participated in two OFE workshops — ‘screenplay writing’ and ‘script to screen’ I can honestly say that attending the OFE chain of workshops would definitely be worth your time.
It takes you through a series of intensive courses made up of a condensed curriculum that teaches you the basics of what filmmaking is all about. Personally, I would recommend OFE to everyone who wants to know how a film is made, what a film is made of and the basics of how to go about making your film in case you want to make one.
So if you are mad about movies and dream of making one someday, your dream will remain just a daydream, until the doors of OFE Skill Factory open up for you and graciously invite you in. And the required qualifications? None. You could be a teacher, doctor, editor, RJ, student (as I am), IT professional, publisher, librarian or even a walrus!
The latest OFE workshop over the weekend was about taking a script and presenting it on screen by filmmaker Goutam Ghose and his daughter Anandi.
When I entered my first OFE workshop, I felt completely lost and utterly confused about what I was doing. But once I was there I found so many people who shared similar thoughts and ideas with ultimately one common dream of wanting to contribute something to films.
We were taught how to make a film with movie clips followed by group discussions and towards the end, we had to assimilate the knowledge that we had gained and make a short film of our own.
Even though at first, the prospect of writing our own screenplay or filming something two minutes long might seem extremely daunting, at the end of the workshop when we made the film, we believed that we could actually do it. Making films is not rocket science, really.
TO SHARE THE DREAM
There is an added incentive of going to the OFE workshops. The incredible opportunity of meeting some of your most beloved cinema personas face to face. And interestingly a quirky individual who attends every OFE workshop even if it is a repeat. The quirk is in the fact that he has a bucket load of questions and an honest criticism about every movie ever made. An interesting person with immense knowledge, you are bound to stumble upon him at any OFE workshop.
In fact, there are so many who keep coming back to share the same dream and live it again.
OFE challenges your talent, gives it a shape, strengthens your faith in cinema as an art form and finally elevates your understanding of films to a level that compels you to watch all the films that you have watched before once again. Because now you can appreciate it so much better.
I look at personas that have risen absolutely from nowhere and are making films that hold me in awe — Srijit Mukherji, Sujoy Ghosh, Shoojit Sircar — and I feel privileged that OFE has given me a preview of what I need to do to get where I want.
If you have a dream and if it is about cinema, OFE is the inspiration that you need. A forum where everything is broken down into the simplest and most basic elements. Mutton biryani is broken down into rice, ghee and mutton. Whether it is from Shiraz or Arsalan comes much later.
So, log onto OFEWorkshops@facebook and realise your potential, your talent and your dream, like I did. At the end of the day, it all comes down to you.
