I have nothing to say
Ying Liang
Hong Kong.  25 min.  2017

A Chinese mother gets a visit from the authorities because her daughter is making problematic films in Hong Kong. She hasn’t seen her daughter for five years but sets off to talk to her, at the government’s expense and in spite of her failing health. A combined examination of politics and a family tragedy.

YING  LIANG

YING Liang (1977, China) graduated from the Department of Directing at the Chongqing Film Academy and Beijing Normal University. He made several successful short films before directing his first feature, Taking Father Home (2005). In 2006, he made The Other Half, which was supported by the Hubert Bals Fund of IFFR. In 2010, his short film Condolences won a Tiger Award for Short Films in Rotterdam. When Night Falls (2012) won prizes for best directing and best leading actress in Locarno.

Graduation Year 97
Pavlo Ostrikov
Ukraine.  19 min.  2017

Roman lives a lonely life in a provincial city and works as a technician. For the first time since graduation, Liuda, his ex-classmate, comes back to town. Nobody has heard anything from her for twenty years, but Roman is set on not losing her again.

PAVLO  OSTRIKOV

Born July 13, 1990, in Ukraine. In 2012 graduated from the National Aviation University, specialty “jurisprudence.” 2013 had a screenwriting course of Paul Brown from New York Film Academy. Debut short film “The stop” shot in 2014. A member of the EFA and public organization “Contemporary Ukrainian cinema”.

Manicure
Arman Fayyaz
Iran.  15 min. 2018

The young woman who committed suicide was carring for bury to the tomb of the village, but the fanatical villagers were expelled after discovering the female hermaphrodite nature and engaging with his wife.

ARMAN  FAYYAZ

Burning
V S Sanoj
India.  18 min.  2018

The film follows a conversation between two young women, brought together by bizarre social realities, at a funeral ghat in Varanasi,(Banaras) India.The film is about how they meet and what they talk about in that short span of time. What we try to capture is how these two young hapless women, subjugated to myriad forms of emotional violence from patriarchy, share in brief sentences their plight and build an instant bond and understand each other like a long-known friends and how that kinship pains them even more. At a godforsaken ghat.

V S SANOJ

Journalist and political columnist in India.
Based in Uttar Pradesh. Belongs to Kerala, South India.
Burning got indian panorama selection at IFFI 2018.

The Lovers
Preeti Singh
India.  21 min. 2018

Anirudh an Indian young guy whose life changes when his wife files a case against him under the act 498A, domestic violence. The story unfolds & conveys how lack of communication between parents & children destroys many lives in a marriage.

PREETI  SINGH

Preeti Singh writer-director-producer of short film-Dom.  It was selected in Cannes short film corner 2016.She has directed many documentaries for discovery India & other platforms,”festivals of India” is one of those documentaries. She has directed many advertisements & a web series.
Now written and directed The Lovers

Malai
Sarmistha Maiti, Rajdeep Paul
India.  14 min.  2018

A low-caste rural boy from interior India goes to attend the local political leader’s son’s wedding, along with his mother and two siblings, excited at the prospect of having a grand meal, especially his favourite ice-cream, referred to as ‘Malai’ in the local tongue. But he instead discovers the dark side of the Great Indian Wedding – a wake-up to the harshness of the society and the saga of discrimination and exploitation of the weak, poor, low-caste, women and even children that continues in the name of tradition in our country even after nearly two decades in the new millennium. Relegated to doing manual labour for little money to entertain the rich and empowered people as they rejoice and celebrate the grand marriage ceremony, the family has to pay too great a price to earn too little – a little boy’s wish for an ice-cream.

RAJDEEP  PAUL

Gadhul
Ganesh Shelar
India.  26 min. 2018

Gadhul (Turbid) is a story of relationship of a son (Rohit, 14) and his mother (Latika, 35). An incident takes place on the death anniversary of his father which takes a sinister turn to change relationship with his mother.

GANESH  SHELAR

An Essay of the Rain
Nagraj Manjule
India.  26 min. 2017

Many words have been used to exalt the magnificence of rain. But when young Raja is given the homework assignment to write about the beauty of rain, lush green mountains, flowing rivers and magical rainbows is not what comes to mind for him. His is another kind of essay on the rain.

Evocative cinematography and an unnerving soundscape make the pounding rain an unforgettable character in this film–omnipresent and unconquerable. Mixing raw realism with a dash of poetry and a gentle touch of humor, masterful storyteller Nagraj Manjule (FANDRY) delicately crafts a visceral and deeply moving tale about the disparities and ironies of life, and nature’s daunting reign.

NAGRAJ  MANJULE

Nagraj Popatrao Manjule hails from Jeur, a small village in Maharashtra. His debut short film “Pistulya” won a National Award for Best Non-feature film. His debut feature, FANDRY, won the Indira Gandhi National Award for Best Debut Film. His next film, SAIRAT, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. Nagraj is also an acclaimed Marathi poet whose poetry collection “Unhachya Katavirudhha” has received numerous awards.

Shame
Anusha Bose
India.  24 min.  2018

SHAME is a dark comedy that walks the thin line that separates the two worlds; the haves from the have-nots; the affluent from the service providers; the indulgent from the repressed. And it is when Fanny slips and crosses the forbidden line in a moment of temptation that she confronts both the wrath of her employers and the demon within. Shame is the twisted journey of a meek, vulnerable woman who emerges from the background to unapologetically reclaim her dignity, confidence and her right to desire.

ANUSHA  BOSE

After a decade of producing news and lifestyle features for NDTV 24×7, Good Times and NDTV India, Anusha Bose moved to non-fiction programming in GEC TV at Star, conceptualizing shows for Star Plus, Life OK, Channel V, Jalsa and Pravah. She went on to head business development and creating fiction programming at a production house, Rowdy Rascal before she started penning screenplays for film and the web. Shame (2018) is her directorial venture.

Tara Versus
Ayesha Anna Ninan
India.  21 min.  2018

Tara, an ambitious but struggling young comedian, loses all sense of humor when she finds out that her best friend has landed a high-profile talent booking job in Delhi. Unable to cope with intense feelings of jealousy and low self-esteem, she jeopardizes the friendship.

Framed by an enchanting performance by Aditi Vasudev (“Devi”), this heartfelt and spirited tale sheds light onto Mumbai’s urban youth and its competitive stand-up scene, where burgeoning ambition, a wavering sense of identity and heightened emotions are no funny matter.

AYESHA  ANNA  NINAN

Ayesha Anna Ninan holds a BA from the University of Virginia, and an MFA in Film Production from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Asia. Ayesha has produced and directed short films in Singapore, Vietnam and India. She currently works for a commercial production house in Mumbai, serving as producer and editor on various short format projects across South East Asia.