It?s that time of the year when the DVs and Mini DVs get more mileage than the 16 mms and 35 mms in the world of cinema. When creativity on canvas scores over commerce. When the Aveek Mukhopadhyays come out of the Antarmahals to capture their own dreams.

The 0110 Indo-British Digital Film Festival, organised by the British Council, kicks off on Monday at Seagull Arts & Media Resource Centre with veteran film writer and enthusiast Father Gaston Roberge inaugurating this year?s edition.

The festival comprises 69 digital video and mini digital video films from India, Pakistan, Nepal and the UK. The films have been further classified into separate groups based on their genres (only just). Apart from the opening films, the others have been divided into DV Experimenta, Reality DV, Self-Centred, Vox Populi, The Long and Short of It and Caf? Films.

The five films chosen from the city include Aveek Mukhopadhyay?s 96-second-long Glich which ?blends images of horror using new and old technologies, analogue and digital? and Sanjeet Chowdhury?s nine-minute Interpersonality about a cyber romance between a 21-year-old boy and a 42-year-old bank clerk. Abhijit Gupta?s The Third Schedule uses less than four minutes to put forth his satirical take on Indian politicians while Nilanjan Bhattacharya visualises sensory responses during the act of drowning in The Dark Faces of Drowning. Qaushiq?s Le Pocha is 57 minutes of contemporary alternative music from Bengal.

Other films include Sohini Ghosh?s Tales of the Night Fairies, a nuanced human tale of Calcutta?s sex-workers. Then there?s the opening film, Marc Craste?s Jo-Jo in the Stars, an unlikely love story between a trapeze artiste and a nameless hero who worships her. Vinay Sitapati?s Vox Populi inspects India?s image through the eyes of Pakistanis.