pune is this an animation film was the murmur in the auditorium after the opening scene of the nineminute lebanese film mirvattes closet set inside a room with ordinary furniture regular clothes and a human protagonist it looked like every other live action film playing at the ongoing pune international film festival piff on saturday as the flickering image drove the action further there was a reassuring sigh of relief this was a stopanimation film a package of 12 animation films competing for the volkswagen international student competition animation is the only nonfeature section in the festival apart from the shortfilm competition again open only for student films the striking variation not only in theme and subject but also in technology deployed in the storytelling was the hallmark at the screening of these films that unfortunately had to be cut short because of technical issues there are so many options when it comes to animation whether it is 2d animation drawn on paper 3d generated on the computer claymation or composting which draws from various techniques the idea was to showcase these different technologies and how they are used in various ways for storytelling said ravi gupta secretary of the pune film foundation the organizers of the festival the 3d format of animation may be emerging as the dominant form of animating storytelling in the market but film students are taught all the various techniques which is probably why such variety in the use of technology is available in student films gupta added bafta award winning film sleeping with the fishes the diversity that emerged was not only of technique but also of the subject matter tackled by the students in india the market for animation films has not developed enough here it is believed that animation is only for children this is not so animation is only a medium for storytelling just like any other and can be used to explore serious subject matter as well gupta said the slovakian film the awakening made a graphic attack on animal cruelty as it followed a pair of foxes from the wild into being skinned alive for their fur the british academy of film and television arts bafta award winning film sleeping with the fishes did not have as much violence as the famous godfather line luca brasi sleeps with the fish it evokes instead it explores the life of a fishmonger who avoids human companionship in favour of the fishes she cohabits with in her bathtub the tale of societal alienation has a dramatic twist with the arrival of a delivery man who looks like a rainbow trout mirvattes closet speaks of a different kind of loneliness that of an elderly woman obsessively attached to her wardrobe particularly her bridal trousseau czech film mythopolis struck a lighter note in its imaginative retelling of greek myths with characters like a minotaur a medusa who turns her uninteresting dates into stone a cyclops delivery man and three blind wise