Of all the advantages of attending a film festival, the most paramount is probably the fact that there’s an evident co-existence of cinema from across the world. Films, features, documentaries or shorts – call them what you may, but they’ll never fail to interest you.
The recently concluded Dharamshala International Film Festival was a host to several independent filmmakers and their creative narrations. A special feature of this year’s festival was a special section dedicated to children’s films curated by Monica Wahi. The films include At Eye Level from Germany, Amdavad Ma Famous, We Make Images from India and Sing from Hungary.
While each film was one of its kind – Kristof Deak’s ‘Sing’ made a strong statement about adults being wrong. The film delineates the journey of a 10-year-old girl named Zsofi, who’s recently transferred to a new school. Her fears, her apprehensions, her subtle discomfort is all executed keeping in mind that it should connect to 10-year-olds all around. Her parents soon give her the freedom to pursue every extra-curricular activity she likes and to find her key interest. Having an inclination towards singing, she finally decides to join the award-winning choir in her school. The series of events post her joining exposes the dark truth behind their much-loved mentor’s ideology and the choir’s fame.
Based on a true story, the film was originally titled as ‘Mindenki’ which can be roughly translated to everybody. In a resilient way, the film makes all the right noises about insecurities that lie in the minds of adults. It shows how sometimes adults use kids to their benefits – knowing that it’s not a morally correct path to be on.
The filmmaker has weaved beautifully the point of views of both, adults and children, in this 25-minute long film. He has incorporated various aspects of one’s school life – thereby making it more relatable and closer to reality. It also highlights the significant differences in the priorities of children and adults – children want to do what they love but adults, sometimes, complicate things with the need of perfection and other vested interests.
Despite being a short film, the film takes its own time to build its narrative – which works well for the film. Its pace is slow enough to make one delve into the plot but also fast enough to keep you hooked.
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