'MJ' bags top honours at IFP

Malayalam short film "MJ", written and directed by Rahul Riji Nair, has found a place among the top ten of '50 Hour Film-making Challenge', a contest organised by India Film Project (IFP).
Asia's largest filmmaking challenge, IFP is an annual contest where filmmakers from across the world are given a theme and a compulsory element, based on which they are to conceive and make a full-fledged film in the next 50 hours.
This year, the competition featured 640 teams from 182 cities in 18 countries.
A seven-minute film, "MJ" narrates the story of a girl who needs to take an autorickshaw back home at odd hours and reveals how she manages a safe journey.

It was ranked 9th in the challenge which was judged by a distinguished jury consisting of prominent Bollywood directors like Ketan Mehta, Onir and producer Guneet Monga.
"I feel absolutely delighted that our film which was born out of pure passion for the film medium has made it big in IFP. It is overwhelming to have the film picked out by filmmakers like Ketan Mehta," Nair, a marketing professional who has a stack of award-winning Indie short films to his credit, said.
Produced by Sujith Warrier under the banner of First Print Studios, "MJ" was written as per the guidelines, which required a twist at the end and a compulsory dance element.

The film was edited by Appu Bhattathiri and Vinayak Gopal served as cinematographer on it. The background score was composed by Sheron Roy Gomez.