RV University to host India’s first-ever Teen Indie Film Awards 2024

Bengaluru: Lights, camera, action! Calling all teen filmmakers! The Teen Indie Film Awards (TIFA), hosted by RV University, Bengaluru, is back for its third edition, bigger and better than ever before. This unique film festival initiative, “of the students, by the students, and for student filmmakers,” is a platform to recognize and celebrate excellence and creativity in filmmaking by school and university students from across the globe.

This year’s festival promises to be a four-day extravaganza, packed with screenings, workshops, discussions, and more. With over 300 film submissions from 30 plus countries, 10 esteemed speakers from all disciplines of the film making, reviewing and curation industry, and an expected audience of thousands, TIFA 2024 is set to be an unforgettable experience for young filmmakers.

The four-day festival launches with the screening of award-winning Australian filmmaker, Naina Sen’s, The Song Keepers.  Australia also is the focus country at TIFA 2024 for having the maximum films submitted, after the festival’s host and home country, India. This sets the stage for an action-packed schedule showcasing a selection of nearly 100+ student films, with categories including fiction, animation, essay and experimental. The festival will also host classic screenings, book launches, and multiple, topical discussion panels and Master Classes by esteemed industry professionals, including veteran Bollywood filmmaker and star-maker Rahul Rawail, author-filmmaker and vice-chairperson, Children Film Society of India, Rinki Bhattacharya, founder-festival director of YathaKatha International Film and Literature Festival Mumbai, Charru Sharma, Visual Development Artist and Production Designer, Rupali Gatti, popular Nagamese director and producer, Tiakumzuk Aier, director of the critically acclaimed 2023 documentary 1947: Brexit India, Sanjivan Lal, and producer-director, Aishwarya Yadav, among others.

Indian National Film Award winning critic, international author-curator and Founding Dean of RV University’s School of Film, Media and Creative Arts, Prof. Piyush Roy, established TIFA in 2022 with a mission to empower the next generation of cinematic storytellers. The festival has seen meteoric growth, from attracting 30 submissions in its debut, to expanding to 75 films from 20+ countries in 2023, and now exploding to over 300 films from 30+ countries and six continents. This success is fueled by expanded programming and global partnerships, such as the recently established collaboration with the Australian embassy, as the Country-in-Focus at TIFA 2024, and inclusion of a global panel of jury members like Ian Phenton from School of Arts and Creative Industries, Teeside University, UK, critic Rahul Desai from Film Companion, internationally acclaimed filmmaker, Tiakumzuk Aier, content creator and coach at Star Writers Program, Rashmi Nambiar, costume designer of the Baahubali film series, Rupali Gatti and Charru Sharma. Reviewing the quality, vision and ambitions of the films in competition this year, Ian Phenton, said, “From stories inspired by film classics to simple tales of friendship in the remotest corners of the world, each of these films has something important to say about the world we live in now and I look forward to seeing what these young filmmakers get up to next.

Mr. Premendra Mazumder, General Secretary of The International Federation of Film Critics, India, currently in Bangalore for the Bangalore International Film Festival, after seeing some of the nominee films at TIFA 2024, stated, “Though I have attended many student film festivals, I am very much impressed with this unique idea of a festival prioritizing teenage filmmakers, and the way it is growing from 30, to more than 300 entries now. I am hopeful that students taking part in this festival will come out as good filmmakers in the future as well”. “TIFA 2024 will unite teenagers and youth filmmakers from every corner of the world to share their diverse stories and perspectives,” said Prof. Roy. “It is both a celebration of the creativity of young minds as well as an advocate for film and arts education globally.”

With a vibrant online community and thousands expected to attend in person, this student-led festival has become a powerful platform for cultural exchange, building a global community of young filmmakers. TIFA provides unparalleled opportunities for networking and fosters the next generation of cinematic visionaries.