Bhubaneswar, June 30: Three short films by maverick filmmakers were screened at the only multiplex here. It came as a “golden opportunity” for cine lovers on Friday evening.

Only a select few, including members of the Odia film fraternity, were invited for the one-off event as part of the Large Short Films — an initiative that seeks to create a platform for storytellers.

The Last Act, released in December last, was screened first. It was touted as India’s first collaborative film. It began with police finding a mutilated corpse and 12 clues that led them to as many cities.

The film, had 12 filmmakers coming together to capture each city in their own style of storytelling. Of the dozen stories, while a few were wonderfully crafted, others failed to keep pace with the momentum. The plot of the two-hour film was by Anurag Kashyap and starred veteran actor Saurabh Shukla.

Sudhir Mishra’s Kirchiyaan featuring Chitrangada Singh, Sushant Singh and Manu Rishi was screened next. The 16-minute film revolved around an incident that led to several people getting shot dead.

The last film was director Samar Khan’s Waisi Waali Khushi. Better known for his directing skills, Punit Malhotra played the lead role in the film. Replete with famous quotes on life by great personalities, the film centred on a man who decides to leave his well-paid job one day and “start living” in the truest sense. Big names such as Kashyap, Khan, Mishra and others came forward to grab eyeballs so that the work of lesser-known filmmakers could get recognised.

Among the selected few who came for the special screening were actors Akash Das Nayak, Samaresh Routray, Sambit Acharya and Priya Choudhury. “I loved Kirchiyaan. It didn’t look like a short film. It was a complete feature film with twists and turns. Even The Last Act was good but I wished they had Bhubaneswar or Puri as one of the 12 cities,” said Samaresh, who watched all the three films back-to-back.

“More people from our fraternity should have attended the screening. We need to realise that there is an audience for such films and if don’t cater to their needs, they will get alienated,” said Routray.