Short filmmakers now have an exclusive OTT (over the top) platform, Shortflix, to showcase their creativity. It was launched recently to help upcoming filmmakers to stream their short films and webseries.
Their passion towards short films and cinema led S.S. Bharanidharan and P. Senthilkumar, who were in different professions, to start Shortflix in 2019 as an alternative to major streaming sites that focus on feature films.
Mr. Bharanidharan, a singer and one of the directors of Shortflix, said it was launched before the pandemic to encourage independent short filmmakers and has now hosted nearly 100 short films in south Indian languages and Hindi.
The idea was to create a viewership for quality content and offer ‘watch-on-the-go’ facility on a user-friendly platform. Best short films were also premiered in multiplexes last year.
“We plan to add international short films in various languages such as English, Korean and Spanish from next month. There are also plans to host web series with 15 to 20-minute episodes in the platform also available as a mobile application,” he said.
Several films that are produced at a low budget and go unreleased due to unavailability of theatres would also be streamed through Shortflix soon. Mr. Senthilkumar, one of the founders and a builder by profession, said, “I joined the venture for the love of movies and short films. We want to streamline short films as an industry and create revenue generation model for aspiring film makers.” The OTT platform now provides free content and the team is exploring possibility of introducing ‘pay view’ with a nominal fee of ₹25 for premium content.
