Mr. Vijay Mallya graced IFFI Goa 2010 today with his presence as Chief Guest for the Short Film Center Awards. The “Golden Lamp Tree Award”, which carries Rs. 5,00,000 prize money went to “Extinction II” Directed by Fernando Uson Fornies. The “Silver Lamp Tree Award” carrying prize money of Rs. 3,00,000 went to “Kusum” Directed by Shumona Banerjee. The Vasudha Award, India’s only Government Award for an environmental film carrying prize of Rs.3,00,00 went jointly to “Kaippad” Directed by Mr. Babu Kambrath and “Niyamgiri You Are Still Alive” Directed by Ms. Suma Josson. “Special Jury Mention Award” carrying prize money of Rs. 2,00,000 was conferred on “Charulata…A Sequel of the Life Untold” directed by Ms. Sangeeta Padmanabhan and “Certificate of Appreciation from the Jury” went to “Incurable India” directed by Mr. Umesh Aggarwal.

Srinivas Mohan, a much acclaimed visual effects supervisor, conducted a master class on visual effects on Sunday, 28th November at the 41st International Film Festival of India, IFFI at Goa. The aim of this Master Class was to educate the filmmakers and students on how visual effects are used in the current breed of movies, the process and workflow involved in the creation of VFX movies. The master class was an astounding success and was attended by students and reputed filmmakers from all over the world. The Master Class is a new feather in this year’s edition of the festival. The concept of this event involves masters in various fields conducting classes on important areas of the field and from the response it seemed; the right master had been chosen for VFX.

Speaking to CG Today, Srinivas Mohan said, “I have been conducting similar master classes in universities and colleges.” Regarding such classes in the future, Mr. Srinivas said, “If time permits, I would be glad to conduct such classes in the future, to support the initiative to spread awareness about the booming industry.”