A still from In the Notch of Blue

Selfie obsession to a strange bond between two “friends with benefits”, short films by city filmmakers screened on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of Studio21 touched upon a myriad themes.

The five films were curated by Pradipta Bhattacharya and Sumantra Roy.

Roy, whose In the Notch of Blue was one of the films screened, said the event provided a great platform for short filmmakers to come forward and showcase their work.

“The first festival was held on a rooftop. We were bowled over by the stupendous response. We had just two weeks to prepare for the second festival at Studio21. Filmmakers were contacted on Facebook. We received nearly 80 entries of which we selected two,” he said.

Roy’s film on the relationship of two apparently bohemian youths was shot over a span of three nights. “It is not expensive anymore to shoot a documentary. Since it is convenient to make a short film, it gives filmmakers a lot of freedom to experiment. Not all the films made are top-class, but surely many more are being made in recent times,” he said.

The shortest film in the series, Ria by Abhishek Talukder, sensitively handled the story of communalism and how it takes a few hours for political incidents to change public sentiments.

Joy Mukherjee’s 22-minute Selfie was the first film screened at Studio21. “It focuses on a current trend that is taking over our lives. There are many layers to this trend, both positive and negative. I wanted to capture every aspect behind this obsession. I wanted to explore if our lives are totally ruled by our virtual behaviour,” said Mukherjee, a student of Roopkala Kendro.

Ekta Jokes by Abhishek Sinha is about a BPO employee who leaves his cellphone behind at a restaurant and the horrifying events — blackmailing calls, dirty pranks — that unfold after it lands up in the hands of a psychopath.

Sourav Chatterjee’s Chura Lia was the fifth film at the one-day festival.