They were not professionals in the world of "lights, camera, action", but their creations highlighting their own experiences of gender-based violence and gender discrimination wowed the professionals.
Some of them hailed from the city, while others came from Assam, Jharkhand, Nagaland and a few from Bangladesh to tell their tales at the "One story at a time", the film festival organised by the city's American Centre.
The festival is the grand finale of the digital storytelling workshop hosted by the US Consul General in the city.
Film personalities such as Vinay Pathak, Churni Ganguly and Anindita Sarbadhicari form the jury panel.
"Today's film festival is a great example of how Indians and Americans can work together to inform and improve our world. In fact, this festival shows how people can play a tangible role in the US-India partnership," US Consul General Patti Hoffman said.
Each of the two-minute short films in four languages reflected individual experiences of the filmmakers. As a follow-up action after an workshop, each of the four zonal teams from Bangladesh, Jharkhand, northeast India, and West Bengal made two more films.
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"Pink and Blue: Is it a rule?", a film by the West Bengal zone, questioning the norm and the so-called "rule" of the society which welcomes a girl child with the colour "Pink" and a male child with "Blue", was declared the best in the category.
"Eggs", a film by Sanjukta Sarkar focusing on discrimination at her family, was adjudged winner while Ranchi-based Ibtesham Sreen's "Reaching Out for dreams" and "Daughter Human or property" by Dimapur's Vinotoli Chisi were declared joint second runners up.
Bangladesh's Tasnia Khandekar's "My name, His identity" and city-based Santu Guchait's "Vault" were announced as the first runners' up.