nainital the second edition of the international students film festival which kicked off in nainital on sunday will feature 60 short films from 12 countries including india the festival organized by the film and television institute of india pune and kumaun university aims to provide a platform to independent filmmakers and to motivate them to produce films on relevant social issues titled kautik international film festival the first day of the fest witnessed 22 short films on various social issues like water conservation and female infanticide rajesh sah a member of the organizing committee said the festival aims to focus on short films on various issues which are globally relevant such as poverty terrorism intolerance selective development identity crisis and others among those who participated were filmmakers from usa united kingdom iran germany romania malaysia and japan a fourday film appreciation course from april 11 to april 15 to provide firsthand training about filmmaking will also be organized shalini sah member of the organizing committee said the course is aimed at making participants understand the intricacies involved in the art of filmmaking and how to shape ideas theatre artist from nainital zahoor alam said the creativity of young filmmakers from various countries is very impressive i hope that such events would also inspire creativity in the artists of the hill state