12 young enthusiastic filmmakers from Oakridge School are a delighted lot. They are the first batch of grade 9th to 12th students who were given the creative task of scripting and making an Ad/ Public Service Announcement (PSA) and Final Short film under the Magic Lantern Film Club program. The classes at the club were held on Saturdays at Oakridge, Gachibowli for 4 hours every alternate week between July 21st and 20th Dec. 2012.

The programmes included a theoretical section based on analyzing films as well as practical workshops which ran under the partnership between AISFM and Oakridge School. Most students said they wanted to be part of the club because of its unconventional approach to film and for the opportunity to interact with prominent figures from the film industry and to visit labs of repute like Prasad Lab.
"The film club taught us how to calm down and figure out the things right in front of us. It gave us a perspective. For that I thank AISFM because without them this wouldn't have been possible. Now when I go to watch movies I can actually understand the efforts behind even a 30 seconds scene and I can appreciate the film more."- says 12th grader SankalpSahni.  

In the process, Sankalp Sahni and a dozen classmates became first-time directors, producers, researchers and script writers for films that they hope will draw applaud from parents, teachers and young students nationally.

 
"I believe such collaborations are very path breaking because it's something that many film schools around the world do not do any more, engaging with the school children who form a significant percentage of the audience of films today." Geetika Tondon added.

"It's inspiring for me to be here. It's debatable if film making is a craft or an art. Whatever be it, the most important thing is the filmmaker's vision that needs to be aware of every department right from story boarding to editing. Through such enriching experiences like film clubs, you get to know about perspectives, storytelling, characters and characterization that help you understand filmmaking better. “Mohammad Ali Baig, Renowned theater personality and ad filmmaker

"In today's time when cinema plays a very important role, especially in Hyderabad where Tollywood has such a strong presence, school film clubs are a wonderful initiative. I am extremely proud of the work that we have done with AISFM and we hope we will soon have a young professional student filmmaker from our school.” Capt. Bajaj, Principal, Oakridge International School, said.

Both Annapurna International School for Film & Media  (AISFM) and Oakridge expect the Magic Lantern Club will pave way for budding young school filmmakers to realize their creative dream in cinema and audio visual space.