CineShorts Premiere Launches The ONENESS FEST

If you’re a fan of short films, you’ve got to check out CineShorts Premiere, the hub for all original shorts across the globe. Founded in January 2019, CineShorts Premiere’s journey began purely by creating a space to showcase quality festival acclaimed Indian short films and reach a larger audience. Within the past year and a half, they have showcased over 100 multilingual films across a myriad of venues in Mumbai and premiered many of them.

The Journey

“Primarily I am an aspiring Actor (Artist) and a not-so-serious Writer,” Founder Saif Hyder said. “Post my acting training, we are usually out on the field searching for work, assignments be it for TV, Film or Theatre. During the course of training we are usually taught to watch good cinema or plays which help us better the craft. While I kept searching for new means to explore my journey, that’s when in the late 2018 I heard about a renowned film festival happening in Mumbai & decided to go for it. During that festival I got exposed to the world of short films & decided to create a neutral space where such films get appreciated & are showcased amidst a general audience.”

In February 2020, they ventured into the distribution of these short films. CineShorts created their own YouTube channel, while also still showcasing shortfilms. As of today, CineShorts Premiere has around 15 shorts on their channel. These include various languages including English, Hindi, Bengali, and Malayalam.

“I believe anything which starts, tends to always grow since that’s the base at which it begins and even if a little you contribute shall always be termed as growth,” Hyder said.

“What really matters is how best, how fast you can scale up the idea, that’s where real growth lies and have been grateful enough to scale up CineShorts in the best ways possible. We did around 28 shows in 2019 across multiple venues in Versova, Bandra, Thane & Fort showcasing more than 100 shorts. CineShorts Premiere was started with the sole aim of helping quality short films reach a larger & wider set of audience. Besides releasing the shorts on their channel, they are also being released across various OTT’s like MX Player, Hungama Play, Airtel Xstream & sooner shall be even available on Shorts TV which happens to be the only televised platform showcasing indie shorts.”

Current Initiatives: The Oneness Fest

Furthermore, CineShorts Premiere is holding a global festival titled “The Oneness Fest” from August 14-16. They will be hosting limited previews of short films for nearly 12 hours from festivals like Tribeca, Montreal, Paris International Festival, Dadasaheb International Film Festival, JIFF, and more. In this event, they will be showcasing between 25 and 30 short films across various genres, languages, and countries and will be hosted on YouTube. The Oneness Fest is the very first festival in India to premiere shorts on an open platform like YouTube.

“The name Oneness itself represents to stand with each other, to be together, support each other. The Oneness Fest is my most ambitious project. I really want it to reach the place where it becomes one of the most talked about fests,” Hyder said. “The best part being it’s not a Competitive film festival, it’s more about Celebration of Indie shorts. It’s a fest where people can watch each and every type of shorts across genres, languages, countries.”

A Company of Value

CineShorts Premiere is not just a film company, though. For example, through their Instagram, they have promoted valuable tips in filmmaking and supported short filmmakers across the globe. Furthermore, their channel has promoted mental health awareness and other social justice subjects.

“Watching a short film is like watching a No-Filtered, No NonSense drama. Everything feels real. Short films reflect a lot of relevance in today’s time with regards to its storytelling. They are real and hard hitting,” Hyder said. “A lot is reflected upon socio, political, societal, and personal intricacies. These films are blunt and blatant in their opinions or views expressed. The biggest challenge is to execute a story with all its ingredients within a limited time space of 5-20 mins and to communicate a message in such a short span is commendable.”

Helping Independent Filmmakers

Moreover, they have recently ventured into Public Relations to aid independent filmmakers. They help in creating buzz around their shorts, features, or series. Also, this has been more recently during quarantine to help those who may not have the budget to promote effectively.

“We realized that just making a good film is not enough. Good marketing helps the film in multiple ways and also highlights the significance of it,” Hyder said. “Our solutions are made keeping affordability in mind for filmmakers since the films are short on budgets. We try to deliver the best possible outcome with minimal spending. In addition, we have already executed work on a Mini-Series and are in talks with multiple other filmmakers/productions to market their films.”