austraLasia
1557
Nine
year old Indian lad from Dominic Savio High wins 'Best Script 'award in Canadian
young filmamkers Festival, Toronto
ANDHERI,
(Mumbai) 10 May, 2006: He's only pint-sized - and
just nine pints at that, but producer and script writer Anshul Khosla of Mumbai,
India won the ‘Best Script’ award for his stunning documentary
‘Love Changes Everything’ at the inaugural the inaugural Young
Filmmakers Film Festival, Toronto, Canada.
Young Anshul, of St. Dominic Savio High School,
Andheri (East), won the award in the Under-10 category; his was the only
entry from India. Anshul, an outstanding student who has just passed Std.
IV, based his documentary on the true life stories of street
children.
Anshul, already a
concerned young human being who empathises with the less privileged, was
inspired by the plight of these street children, some of whom are being cared
for by Shelter Don Bosco, Wadala, a home for homeless children run by the
Salesians of Don Bosco.
The
idea of submitting his film for the Toronto festival was initiated by senior
journalist Ronita Torcato, of Mumbai, who informed Anshul’s Vice-Principal, Fr.
Joaquim Fernandes. Being the head of Media Initiatives at St. Dominic Savio, Fr.
Joaquim teamed up with Anshul to shoot this 16 minute and riveting documentary
using a handycam.
Following his
visit to Shelter Don Bosco on a social awareness programme about street
children, Anshul was shocked after hearing their real life stories first-hand
and instantly decided to base his documentary on Ganesh, Babloo and Ijaz, the
characters in the film. “Here was a golden
opportunity to showcase their lives and hopefully bring about a change for the
better through love,” reveals Anshul. “I believe love can change lives and
decided to make it the theme for my documentary.” Anshul also remembered the audio skit ‘Love Changes Everything’,
aired on All India Radio in December 2005, in which the young director himself
was the narrator, and used the same title for his documentary.
Apart from going behind the camera with
Fr. Joaquim, Anshul was supported by a team of experts from school.
Support also came from home, including dad Lakhnesh, mother
Pooja and sister Donna who helped during filming.
Festival Director,
Vince De Marinis was full of praise for this effort. “To begin with, it is excellent and thoughtful of you to actually
create a DVD cover for the film. That shows a real level of commitment on an
artistic and business (promotional) level. “Your story is very good and believable. Many people think that when
you write a script or story about personal experience it is easy to do. This
isn’t necessarily true. You have shown an ability to choose the right moments to
give the audience a sense of conflict and obstacle,” Marinis said in his
appreciation of Anshul’s effort.
_______________________
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