Cinema club of Coimbatore planned to tie up with schools
The Cinema Club of Coimbatore is planning to tie up with schools and colleges to bring the youth closer towards meaningful cinema.It has already entered into an association with the Department of Visual Communication of Maharaja College for Women to screen classical movies and conduct regular seminars and workshops on cinema. The move is part of a campaign started by the club on “Films for Development.” Though taking serious cinema to the public is the main aim of the club, it is also focussing on getting across social messages to the public through serious cinema, says S.Kamalakannan, president of Cinema Club of Coimbatore.It is planning to screen movies especially for villages, schools, colleges, apartment complexes, and corporate offices.Movies relevant to each of these groups will be screened. For instance, in villages, movies such as ‘Kutti’ and ‘Ayesha,’ which speak of education and empowerment of the girl child, will be screened as it can create awareness on the larger issues that affect human life, Mr.Kamalakannan says.Coimbatore is also growing in terms of population who appreciate good cinema.The club, which was formed two years ago, has grown to 146 members from a group of 17 in its initial stages.It has recently started a branch in Erode too.“Screening movies for children in Government schools calls for a lot of expenses, which the club may not be able to afford always. But, in the case of matriculation schools, the school authorities themselves are able to bear the cost of the projector and the like,” Mr.Kamalakannan says.
However, the club plans to take their cinema to Government schools too.At the inauguration of the cinema club, “The Opera Film Club” at the Maharaja College for Women, Kavingnar Puviyarasu, the chief guest, had said that realistic cinema could also be entertaining. Forming clubs in schools and colleges could attract the youth towards parallel cinema, he added.“The club should also motivate the students in creating short films and documentaries and impart technical knowledge in film making,” he said.Interested students could be taught about how to watch a movie, film appreciation, how to make a movie and even the basics of editing.
Short films on socially relevant concepts such as ‘protection of HIV infected persons,’ ‘attitude of society towards transgenders,’ and ‘exploitation of girls and women’ were also screened at the college.Interested organisations can contact : The Cinema Club of Coimbatore at 94435 78887 or email cinemaclubofcoimbatore @yahoo.co.in.
