Sarwanam Theatre has announced the second edition of Drishyamsha, a mobile short film competition.

The second edition of the fest will be judged by a panel including filmmakers Nischal Basnet, Abhinash Bikram Shah, Deepak Rauniyar, and journalist Sushil Paudel and submissions will be accepted through January 2018..

“There are many Nepali youth film enthusiasts today who, despite having a story and an aptitude to tell it, don’t do so because they don’t have a decent camera. Drishyamsha targets such filmmakers who can now film their story using a smartphone,” said Sampada Malla, coordinator of the competition. “We hope that the contest will help filmmakers with limited resources come to the fore.”

She added that since the first edition of the contest last year received about 400 entries, the organisers were all the more excited.

Speaking at the announcement, director Nischal Basnet said that contests like this one will prove instrumental in encouraging up-and-coming filmmakers. “Budding Nepali filmmakers have had to face problems like the lack of proper platform on one hand, and the lack of resources on the other. Filmmaking competitions like this can go a long way in encouraging and incubating their talents,” Basnet said. “When we judge the films, we will focus on the artistic merit of the film rather than the quality of the camera used,” he added. While journalist Sushil Paudel said that there are plenty of films around the world which are shot with cellphones, without compromising the artistic value. “Hence contests like this present a veritable opportunity for budding filmmakers,” Paudel said. Organisers said that the submitted films should run for three minutes or less and the ten best entries will be awarded. The deadline for submissions is Jan 21, 2018.