Talent Campus India # 3 came to an end on 21 July 2006 but such was the collective spirit of the participants that even now, in every email with feedback I can still sense their exuberance.
This year our venue for Talent Campus India was in a conference room housed in the NCUI building across the street from Siri Fort Auditoria Complex, where the Osian’s-Cinefan, 8th festival of Asian Cinema was being held. However we saw it as an extension of the Festival space. Not just the aspiring filmmakers but also the experts enthusiastically contributed to an extremely interactive and intimate gathering, session after session between 17-21 July. Talents were constantly coming up with innovative proposals of how to take the idea and the spirit of Talent Campus forward in their own way, in their own cities and countries.
I wish them all the very best in all their endeavours, with their renewed enthusiasm I urge them to get out there and make films and most of all to sustain the spirit of collaboration – since filmmaking is all about that!

Click here for talent campus images

Cheers!
Monica Bhasin
Coordinator, Talent Campus India
Osian’s-Cinefan, Festival of Asian Cinema


Feedback from Talents

Jagannathan Krishnan
...Talent campus surprised me. I absorbed new things. Insights bounced around, some of which caught me by surprise. Helped me touch base with what a lot of people out there are making or want to make. New friendships happenned which I know will last. I'm grateful for that. This feeling that I'm not alone making movies, that theres a community out there and each one is trying to do his or her own thing and one can reach out to others, I got that. Dissolved some of the film school cynicism...

Kuljeet Singh
(Talent Campus India)… was not only stimulating but also highly inspiring. The session with Naseeruddin Shah, especially was a real insight into acting vis-a-vis theatre and cinema from the master who practised the art for more than 30 years. After Talent Campus, I have decided to buy PD170 and take a plunge...

Angshuman Barkakoty
...in my simple words, Talent Campus India is a great experience for aspiring film makers like us. It is a platform where we got to know about cinema in a specific manner and above all we got the chance to meet Talents from different parts of Asia. The certificate which was given to us is a good recognition about the workshop...

Tejas Vijay Deoskar
...It’s been a life time memory. We not only learnt new things but also enjoyed a lot. The management was awesome! Networking and learning are the 2 things I gathered here...

Salma Siddique
...The workshop allowed one to focus more on individual interest areas. The scriptwriting sessions with Jean Claude Carrière were extremely helpful. On the other hand it acquainted one with different possibilities. I found the session on production design very interesting. The inputs by John William and Indranil Ghosh revealed a part of film making that is creatively challenging as well as fulfilling…..The best part of the workshop was surely the interaction and exchange between the panellists and the talents.

R. Anish
I could never imagine meeting so many young aspiring filmmakers from all over the country at the same time. Not to leave out our friends from neighbouring countries...the workshops and discussions were really meaningful keeping in mind that we rarely get to interact with people of the calibre of Jean-Claude Carrière and Tu Duu Chih...

Vaibhav Singh
I think it (Talent Campus India) was a great event and one that I'm not ever likely to forget...

Collin John D’Cunha
...on the whole found Talent Campus a very enriching experience…it definitely restored the belief that I have chosen the right profession and that this is what I wanna do for the rest of my life. The highlights for me would be Jean Claude Carriere, Tu Du Chih and John Torres and Aamir Muhammad...

Shraddha Passi
...Sessions with Jean Claude were really good...and also the ones with young filmakers like Amir Muhammad and John Torres...now I feel more confident and can go ahead and shoot my films....without worrying about the "rules" of filmmaking...after Talent Campus I have realised that there are many more opportunities for young filmmakers like me....and there are film buffs out there who share the interests that I have...thanks to Talent Campus...

Tara Misra
It was great being there at TC and listening to so many different film people from around the world. Monsieur Carrière's talk was very enlightening on the subject of screen writing/adapting. The whole exercise in making us read the book and then discussing the screenplay with him was an excellent idea! Pan Nalin's in his lecture was very forthright and to the point and Naseeruddin Shah had my attention throughout. But the most engaging was by far the duo of Aditya Bhattacharya and Anurag Kashyap. They were really inspiring in spite of Aditya's cinicism about selling out to Bollywood. His emphasis on conviction, belief and sincerity in making a film would I suppose sound idealistic to (some) people but for us, amateur aspirant...it was eye opening...And also the farewell party was great! It was really so much fun!

Nitin K.
...sessions with Carrière were memorable and I missed Avi Mogarbi in the panel on documentary...but his film was very fresh to the idea of docu. filmmaking...

Muhammad Kaleem Rajput (Pakistan)
TCI was a great occasion to meet Talents from around the world along (and specially) the professionals also at the same time. Its kind of a rear opportunity that we got...I made good friends so that we can work in future...you know we go many places for visit but we can't meet people from our field at the same time like we met because of Talent Campus.

Solomon Ayub (Pakistan)
...I was really looking forward to a great trip but you made it fantastic...The lectures gave me delusionary memories; I will remember them throughout my life. I must say the work I saw was impressive and passionately done. I met the finest of people in the world...

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Rishap Malhotra
...It (Talent Campus India) provided us opportunities to not only interact but see, question and debate lot of work happening in various genres of cinema. Post Talent campus I am equipped with various skills that will help me not only visualise but also produce world class good audio-video content...all in all it was an enriching experience...

Suraj Kumar Duarah
...(Participation in) this (Talent Campus India) is of great significance specially for people like me from a remote place like Assam. The exposure as well as the interaction in your esteemed festival …(meant so much) for me that I cannot reveal by words alone. This workshop has widened my perspective and created a vision for my future steps in life.

Ditimoni Gogoi
...Talent Campus came to me when I desperately needed an orientation in my career...

Zalina Gamat
Talent Campus was a great experience; it was stimulating and helped me to think out of the rut that film school tends to trap you in. It made me aware of what cinema is and can be. I especially liked Jean Claude Carrière's session and Digital Film-making Aesthetics with John Torres, Amir Muhammad and Kanwar, as for a young film maker like myself, it is essential to be exposed to new ways of using this affordable medium.

Anju Puroshot
The day I came back from Delhi was like leaving behind memories that would last me a lifetime... the seminars were very helpful for a novice like me and the further discussions bought to light several aspects of film making that I hadn’t even considered yet...But more than all this the moments that will stay with me are the times I’ve spent with the other talents...times when we put forth ideas and share our theories over a hot cup of tea during the breaks...the welcome dinner where I hesitantly made my introductions to other talents... the farewell party where with the same people I approached so very hesitantly I danced my heart out... Talent Campus will be one of the most cherished memories of my life....