According to the WhatsApp message, the district collector and magistrate have been transferred out of the district, and a new collector has been assigned to the Nilgiris District. The news is straightforward and usual. However, the weight of the news gradually dawned on me.
We submitted a letter of request for authorization to Ms. J. Innocent Divya, I.A.S. a few weeks ago. She also promised to attend the inaugural ceremony. The concern now is that we have yet to get a permission letter from the Collectorate, despite the fact that we have been waiting for it. She became infected with Corona shortly after our first meeting and was placed on medical leave. We don’t know what happened to the approval letter. Another concern is that I don’t know who the new collector is or how he will respond to this event.
Another unpleasant situation is that Ooty’s Municipal Commissioner was also transferred.
Everything has to be restarted now.
It is time to act quickly, so I took a printout of the letter and the invitation letter arrived at the Collectorate. It’s Friday, and I arrived at the workplace at about 12 p.m. I claimed the staircase and entered the corridor that leads to the Collector’s office. Davali (meaning office assistant in Urdu) was walking towards me, and behind him was a tall, muscular man, covered with a mask, walking slowly, and I instantly recognized him as the new Collector.
I congratulated him on his new post and welcomed him to Ooty. Also, provide the invitation and letter.
He thanked me and just said, “will look into the matter” and walked away.
I was disappointed. Now I don’t know what will happen.
Later, the collector’s office employee informed me that he had just taken over as Collector and that you were the first person he met.
Now I see why he was bewildered.
On the same day, I met with Mr. K. Ramachandran, Minister of Environment and Forests, and invited him to the Film Festival.
Attracting an audience is the most difficult problem for every event. Until the latest edition, there was a delegate pass that cost roughly Rs. 400 per person for three days. But for this edition, my team and I decided to give it entirely away to everyone.
I, Stalin, and Padhu had a lengthy discussion about it, and we agreed to undertake both online and offline campaigns to draw an audience.
We printed free delegate passes and student passes for the offline campaign. We printed around 2000 copies each. These complimentary tickets were distributed to our friends’ shops in the Nilgiris and Coimbatore districts, with the request that they are distributed to customers who visit their shops as a mark of gratitude. We had established contacts with local colleges and distributed free student passes in order to introduce college students to good films.
Providence College for Women, Coonoor, promised to help by sending students to work as volunteers. They stated that they would send 25 to 30 students for the three days. Volunteers are very important for public festivals; we need people to manage the delegate booth, manage stages, talk shows, food stalls, regulate traffic and parking, and provide public utility spaces.
We also designed package labels with information about the Ooty Short Film Festival for Suresh’s SRG chips. It was extremely cheap, and it touched every nook and corner of the Nilgiris District.
This move was extremely beneficial to both us and the local merchants. They believed it added value to their service, and they are pleased to have been able to contribute to this festival. The advertisement boosted our visibility among the locals.
Woorise, a very unique website, was employed in the online referral campaign. This created an interest among young people, and we received entries from all over India. We also executed a massive email campaign, Facebook advertisements, and Instagram posts with ZERO money.
We also created a number of short videos featuring residents of the Nilgiris District welcoming the general public to the film festival. These 30-second videos were widely shared on social media and via WhatsApp. Through this approach, the event was transformed into a people festival. We received recordings from a wide range of individuals, including lawmakers, bureaucrats, street vendors, and others.
Prabu, a new volunteer from Kovilpatti, came all the way from Kovilpatti to join us. He is an aspiring filmmaker who is learning the craft. Suresh and Prabu used to hand out tickets on the streets of Ooty every day in addition to delivering them to stores.
The days began to lengthen and the nights became shorter. Since we started the festival, we used to have group calls every day since I was continuously travelling. One call in the morning from 9 a.m. to 10, or 11 a.m. depending on the situation and issues. We used to have late-night group calls as well. The majority of our planning took place over a WhatsApp group call.
The festival is only 5 days away. I was in the war room with Yoga, Pasu, and Stalin, strategizing and designing the catalogue. When I checked my phone at about 11 a.m., there were more than ten missed calls, all from the same number. I assumed there was something serious going on, so I dialled the number.
