Desire knows no boundary. It germinates anywhere it wants and can grow into anything. “Chaah” (desire) is about one such desire that grew into 10-year-old Lekhraj’s mind but he doesn’t have the courage to ask his parents – Raju and Geeta. Raju – a laborer – understands this and promises Lekhraj to fulfill any of his desire if he scores well in exam. The result day comes and Lekhraj does get good marks. While Raju is extremely happy, he is wary of Lekhraj’s desire. What will the kid want? And will Raju be able to fulfill his desire as promised? The short film follows a simple predicament of a father struggling to fulfill his son’s desire.
HANSRAJ ARYA
Hansraj Arya is a filmmaker who hails from a small village of Tonk, Rajasthan. He completed his post-graduation in Mathematics from Central University of Rajasthan in 2019. During his college days, he scripted and directed several plays and also performed in theatre. After college, he started participating in several theatres in Jaipur and Delhi. To follow his dream passion of storytelling, Hansraj started his career in film making. In 2019, he began his career as a script writer and director in a production house in Delhi. Later, he shifted to Mumbai to work with Laughing Colours as a writer. After working on various short films, he has finally made his directorial debut with “Chaah” (desire).
A husband recounts the days of being in school, being different from other boys, realizing that his body reacts to men, the way other boys’ bodies react to women.
A wife realizes that she has always let other people dictate what she eats, what she wears, what she studies, who she marries, and how she has sex. She wants to be liberated. Why has she kept it all within her so far?
As the couple finds words to own their truths, they start searching for words to tell them to each other.
NIHIT BHAVE
NIHIT BHAVE, ANURAG KASHYAP
I was a film journalist and critic with India’s leading publications, the Times of India and Hindustan Times, and I have been working as a screenwriter for the last 5 years. My screenwriting credits include Anurag Kashyap’s film, Choked, and his next film, Dobaaraa. I have also co-written the second season of the Netflix series, Sacred Games. Apart from writing, I have worked with Kashyap’s team as an assistant director and script supervisor.
DIRECTOR,S NOTE
When I decided to make a short film, I knew that it had to tackle the issue of belonging to the gay community in India. I identify as a cis gay man, and I needed to talk about men in India who don’t have the vocabulary to come out of the closet, let alone live their authentic lives. As I started writing the film, I realized that a good foil to my male protagonist would be a woman who has suppressed all her needs, desires and wishes. In my opinion, the experience of being a woman and being a closeted gay man have a lot of overlaps in a society as restrictive as India. As an introvert, I have also often sacrificed a lot to avoid confrontation of any kind, so I knew that I had to marry these issues in The Way We Are.
A large part of the Indian society still looks at marriage as a burden, a responsibility to be checked off. Women are expected to be subservient, men have a specific toxic masculine role to play. Sometimes, as in movies, chest-thumping acceptance of self is not instantly an option. I want to tell more stories of queer people and women in India, and I hope The Way We Are is a step in the right direction for it.
It is a story of Abel Cain set in modern times from a different perspective. Hayati and Saffet are two brothers who live on fishing. Saffet could not continue his education because, but he educated himself in the science of the sky, which he made a passion. While Saffet is convinced, his older brother Hayati is dealing with treasure and turning the corner as soon as possible. They sold their old car, which were their only asset, and get a treasure map in return. Thanks to Saffet’s interest in astronomy, they find the location of the treasure, but two brothers await a surprise in the treasure hunt.
ABDULLAH SAHIN
He was born in Istanbul in 1987 and graduated from the Cinema and Television Department. He is pursuing his master’s degree in the same field and preparing for his first feature movie.
Filmography Plus One 2019 Cleats 2019 Lifeline: The Brothers Who Hold the Same Breath 2021 Tell Something 2022
Ouadane and Chinguetti have the oldest and most valuable libraries in Mauritania and the Arab world, of incalculable heritage and cultural value. Some of its books, older than the Koran itself, may contain secrets linking Atlantis to the Richat structure near Ouadane.
Baba and Yoshef are two hustlers from Nouakchott who are commissioned to get wooden manuscripts that provide information about Atlantis to locate archaeological remains in the Richat. The librarians feel offended at the mere possibility of trying to buy their cultural heritage inherited from generation to generation and decide to write a collective manifesto to avoid these situations in the future.
At the same time, Zaida, an expert local guide in the area, hired by foreign expeditions in search of archaeological remains and a former Théodore Monod expeditionary, bring us closer to the mysterious structure of the Richat, for many, the geological remains of Atlantis.
XAVI HERRERO
Xavi Herrero literally grows up in a photo studio. Catalan filmmaker and producer residing in Ibiza since 2014, the year he abandoned his professional activity in Barcelona which was focused on TV-3 and other production companies such as El Terrat or Dorna among many others. In 2016 he created Ibizacinefest, the Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente de Ibiza, that he continues to direct nowadays, preparing the 5th edition. At the same time, he is producing and directing 4 feature films related to the island of Ibiza. Moonface. Una mujer en la guerra was awarded at the Festival de Màlaga 2019 with a Silver Bizanga and the Audience Award. With his fifth feature film Salka en la tierra de nadie he begins a new stage focused on 2 collaborative productions in Mauritania. He has currently finished “Kitab“. His feature films have been awarded and selected in Festivals such as Festival de Málaga, Cinespaña, Docs Barcelona, Atlantida Film Fest, Vladivostok, etc … and in industry sections such as EFM Berlinale, Visions du Réel Industry, Medimed or Spanish Screenings. Since May 2022 is member of EuropeanFIlm Acadmy whit the right to vote of European FIlm Awards.
DIRECTOR,S NOTE
Kitab is my second feature film made in Mauritania after “Salka in no man’s land”, both collaborative with the Project Hummingbird from A pencil a drawing that manages the NAD orphanage in Nouabhidou. The NAD is led by Aichetou Dyallo and she herself is in charge of the pre-production of these films in this hermetic country as unknown. The conditions of the filming, derived from those of the country, they are completely minimalist and complicated. Each shooting and lodging in the NAD, become experiences unforgettable moments in this attempt to document Mauritania with author documentaries, in the case of “Kitab” approaching the libraries ofthe desert, guided by the main musicians of the Atar region and discovering the possibility that the structure of the Richat is Plato’s Atlantis.
Shot on location and set in Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 80s, FUNNY BOY explores the awakening of sexual identity by a young boy named Arjie set against the backdrop of the civil war. As political tensions escalate to a boiling point between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese, the boy comes of age in a society and family that refuses to embrace differences outside of societal norms. The film mirrors the oppression of the Tamil people with the marginalization Arjie suffers because of who he is and who he loves. FUNNY BOY chronicles a country torn apart by fear and abuse of power, while Arjie’s struggles to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding.
Seabreaker Eloy Domínguez Serén Spain. 2022. 26 min
Santi is a teenage father who lives in a small coastal town. During the day he has a job as a fisherman, while at night he smuggles seafood. While his girlfriend Lucia takes care of their baby all by herself, Santi, absent and overwhelmed by responsibility, seeks refuge and redemption in the sea.
ELOY DOMÍNGUEZ SERÉN
After graduating from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) Eloy Dominguez Serén started his career as a film critic and co-founder and co-director of A CUARTA PAREDE Magazine. In 2010 he served on the Youth Jury of the Venice Film Festival. The following year he moved to Stockholm, where he directed two short films: PETTRING (2013) and NO NOVO CÉIO (2014). In 2014 he filmed the medium-length film JET LAG and during the following two years he completed NO COW ON THE ICE (2015) —premiered at Visions du Réel— and the short films YELLOWBRICK ROAD (2016) and RUST (2016). In 2018 he premiered the feature film HAMADA at IDFA. Having been screened at festivals such as BAFICI and the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the film won awards at the Cinéma du Réel, FIC Xixón and Porto/Post/Doc festivals. His most recent short film, THE BODIES (OS CORPOS, 2020), was premiered at IDFA.
Set in 1990s China on Yangtze River, along with a sudden accident, 2 boatmen of different generation have lost their loved ones. Facing grievance against each other and the twist and turns of their likely father-and-son relationship, they embark with the flow of unknowns.
PEIKE ZHENG
Graduated from Beijing Film Academy, Chinese young director Peike Zheng has filmed short films A Writer’s imagination and After a CarAccident. Karma is the director’s debut feature film.
Report Sarjun KM, Twiinkle Saaj India. 2022. 20 min
Yashika experiences various versions of herself redoing an incident, over and over again in her head to comprehend what actually transpired. Human complexities are revealed as we see her recount different, subjective, alternative, selfserving, and contradictory versions of the same incident. But which one is real? It is her journey against the patriarchal society and seeking justice as well as mental peace, her way.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday Arthur Cahn France. 2021. 20 min
The factory where Romain and Adémar work has caught fire, so they decide to enjoy three days of idleness together in the mild summer.
ARTHUR CAHN
Arthur Cahn studied in Hypokhâgne and Khâgne, then in Modern Literature before turning to cinema. He went to NYU for the Sound and Sight summer session, before entering the FEMIS in directing, from which he graduated in 2012 with the medium-length film Les ravissements, selected at the Cinéfondation. Following his studies, Arthur directed 2 short films, Au loin les dinosaures and Herculaneum. The 1st wins the CCAS prize at the Premiers Plans festival in Angers and the 2nd receives, among others, the press prize at the Clermont-Ferrand festival. In 2018, Le Seuil published his 1st novel, Les vacances du petit renard. For 2 years, Arthur has been co-writing feature films while developing his personal projects.
From Door to Door Rohit Khaitan India. 2022. 45 min
The film is a human story of displacement, refuge, dreams, reality, success, failure, resilience, challenges, co-incidences and life altering experiences. Dar-Badar is a Farsi and Urdu word also used in Hindi. It literally means ‘Door to Door’ and used to signify someone who has no Home, one who is roaming one place to another, hoping for a Refuge. In simple words- Homeless or Displaced. It’s a story of two strangers displaced from home, who meet in a foreign city which is nobody’s home. A story lived through the travelling eyes of an Afghan driver displaced from his motherland and an Indian actor searching for his identity, how history, art and cinema brings them together leaving an ever lasting impact on each other before they bid good bye.
ROHIT KHAITAN
From Door to Door is a debut feature mid length film by Debutante Rohit Khaitan as a director. Although Rohit Khaitan has produced and distributed films which have been in official selections at various A grade international film festivals like Festival De Cannes, Venice, TIFF and others. Rohit has also served Balaji Motion Pictures Limited in capacity of creative producer in 2009-10 and NFDC as supervising producer in the year 2010-2011 where he was in charge of films like Indian European co-production ‘Qissa’ starring Irrfan, National award winning Gujrati language film ‘The Good Road’ “He’ directed by Mangesh Joshi and ‘TGIYB’ and others.
Rohit’s own home production independent short ‘Lehenga’ inspired by true story of a Gandhian family directed by Richa Srivastava was selected in ‘court-mètrage’ section at Festival De Cannes-2012, New Jersey International Film Festival and his Critically acclaimed feature film ‘Prague’ which he conceptualized and produced was officially selected in competition section at 12th Osian’s Cinefan, Tashkent International Film Festival (Organized by the Govt. of Uzbekistan), Jagran Film Festival in Finals competition, Berlin and Prague Indian Film Festival. Most recently Rohit has distributed ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ Children film ‘Notebook’ by National award-winning Nitin Kakkar, under license from YRF UK and English language film ‘Hotel Mumbai’ in cinemas in Sweden. Rohit has also produced Hindi plays ‘Do Deewane Shaher Mein’ based on Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedy ‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ in 2017 to mark 400th death anniversary of Bard and opened at India Habitat, Sri Ram Center New Delhi, Epicenter Gurgaon and various performing arts center in overseas. This is Rohit’s debut film which features known actor Chandan Roy Sanyal, debutante afghan-dutch actor Shoaib Ahmed Lodin and 4 times national award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar. From Door to Door is produced in collaboration with Shams Media from Afghanistan, Salp Films from Holland and Kartina Entertainment.
DIRECTOR,S NOTE
From Door to Door is an emotionally driven drama revolving around two artists who meet as strangers in Amsterdam (Netherlands) both having things in common – love for art, cinema and Indian movies. It is a fictional tale inspired by true events. It is a human story of displacement, Refuge, dreams, reality, success, failure, resilience, challenges, co-incidences and life altering experiences. The story takes us through the life experiences of Shoaib (An afghan pastoon) who is displaced from his motherland, comes to Netherlands to seek refuge and save his life from the war-torn Afghanistan. He is an ardent fan and admirer of Indiancinema. He wishes to pursue his dreams of becoming an actor, comes to Mumbai to try his hands in acting and due to immigration rules and ill fate and his hard-earned savings running out he has to return to Holland where he becomes a private taxi driver. He meets a stranger one night in his taxi on the streets on Amsterdam who he realizes to be a famous Bollywood actor played by Chandan Roy Sanyal. The two strangers meet unexpectedly, co-incidentally and become friends as the boundary between the two diminishes and they both inspire each other which helps them both as individual humans and artists.
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