The Peanut Seller
Etienne Sievers
Germany. 19 min.  2018

Orphan Shakeel survives by selling old newspapers on the streets of Delhi. By chance he sees Mohan, who had been in the same train as his mother when she disappeared many years ago. Shakeel hires a private detective to find out Mohan’s whereabouts. But his plan fails due to his limited financial resources and his position as an outsider of society, Increasingly frustrated, his misconduct and bossy behaviour towards women results in his friendship with cleaner Neela threatening to fail, too. When Shakeel finally does meet Mohan, he learns a truth that changes his life and makes him want to make up with Neela.

ETIENNE  SIEVERS

Born in Germany, Etienne grew up predominantly in India. After his undergrad in Berlin, he studied Filmmaking in the UK with a DAAD scholarship (German Academic Exchange Service).

Etienne’s short films were screened at numerous international film festivals, distributed on TV, acquired by various distribution companies and favourably reviewed by the press.

His short film “The Peanut Seller” recently won several awards, such as the Satyajit Ray Short Film Award at the London Indian Film Festival 2018, where the jury praised it for its “superb execution and poignant narrative”.

Let some clouds float in
Mayuresh Gotkhindikar
India.  28 min.  2017

A susceptible spinster on the verge of losing hope torments herself to find relationships with purity and innocence, eventually goes through metamorphosis of sorts in mid 1990’s gradually liberating India.

MAYURESH  GOTKHINDIKAR

Mayuresh Gotkhindikar (born 1985) is an independent filmmaker based in Pune, India. ‘Aaye Kuch Abr / Let some clouds float in’ is his second short film. He’s editor, screenplay writer and director. He has a  keen interest in learning the craft of cinema and storytelling. He’s would like to explore complexities of human relations happening in specific times, tracing his roots.

Written by?
Kankana Chakraborty
India.  15 min.  2018

Story of two writers… two generations. Kamalesh Roy, a writer who has seen his golden days, but has not written anything in the last 10 years. Natasha Sen, an young writer who interns for Kamalesh Roy. The Film takes place on a rainy evening in a span of an hour and a half ( 7:30-9:00 pm). It mainly deals with the question: Who can claim the right to a story? The ‘one who experiences it’ or ‘the one who writes it down?’

KANKANA  CHAKRABORTY

Kankana Chakraborty, is born and brought up in Kolkata.She finished her undergraduate in ‘Journalism and Mass communications’ from Shri Shikshayatan College, Kolkata.
On completing her graduation she directed a Docudrama, “WOMEN PRAYED AND PREYED UPON.” It mainly deals with the irony that in a country where we pray to Goddesses then why do we prey upon women?

The docudrama had legends like Shri. Amitabh Bachchan, Shri. Shyam Benegal, Surekha Shikri, Late Reema Lagoo, Harshdeep kaur, Shaan, Joy Sarkar and others. It has won 17 National and International Awards, the last being the WORLD PEACE AWARD.

Kankana then moved to Los Angeles, to finish her Masters in Acting, from New York Film Academy. She graduated in 2015. Since then she is been a working actress in Los Angeles and have been part of several theatre productions as a lead, TV commercials and several Independent Short Films and Web series.

Bebaak
Shazia Iqbal
India.  20 min.  2018

Fatin is an Architecture student from a lower middle class Muslim family, who goes for an interview to seek scholarship from a religious Education Trust, along with her father, Zaheer. During the interview, she gets reprimanded by the interviewing officer, Niyaz Sheikh for not following the religious tenets meant for women.

At the tomb below the trust office, she meets two young girls who are students at the local Madrassa. One of them, Rafiya has fixed notion of being a ‘good girl’ by following the set rules of the religion; the other, Shireen seeks freedom from the same. Fatin has to choose between reinforcing Niyaz’s misogynist dogma and live with the burden of her own muddled morality or stand up for what feels right.

In the process, Shireen, who largely represents girls who are systematically indoctrinated into losing their identity, becomes a catalyst of change for Fatin.

SHAZIA  IQBAL

Shazia Iqbal has been working as a Production Designer for over ten years in the Indian film and Ad industry. She has studied ‘Directing for films’ at MET film school, Ealing studios, London.

Bebaak is her debut short. Bebaak is inspired by a true event that moulded her religious, social and political ideology while growing up.

Her first feature script, Chaplin was selected at NFDC Director’s Lab, Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab (Utah – first round) and Mumbai Mantra Screenwriter’s Lab. She designed Anurag Kashyap’s film, Mukkabaaz which premiered at Toronto International film festival (TIFF) and is the leading designer of India’s first original Netflix series, Sacred Games.

POSTER

Ghayta
Pratik Girish Bhoyar
India.  14 min.  2018

Shankar lives on occasional repairs not enough to support his family. But whenever Mr Seth calls him, he does not charge him. One day the teenage daughter of Mr. Seth disappears. Shankar has to answer the questions.

Palaayan
Madahav Chandra Sai
India.  15 min.  2018

In near future of industrialization and acid rain, Girilal, the old man decides to leave the village with his daughter Meghna and rest of the people for the city. But while travelling, they get stuck and have to seek help help from Parthiv, the boy who was excluded from that village.

A Letter to Home
Mukul Haloi
India.  25 min.  2018

Glimpses of lives from a village in Assam reveal the relationship between its history and the present. People’s lives and beliefs are entangled with ecological strings, as nature stands witness to the narratives that unfolded there. A young boy, Rahul, hopes to write a book on his experience of growing up in this village. His mother, being deeply connected with nature, can sense messages and signs arising from nature. Urmila, a pregnant lady, is driven by sensorial experiences. But, in contrast to the serenity and harmonious living, there lurks a violent societal past. These peaceful and quiet lives intersect in a space where traumatic memories of death and loss in Assam’s thirty years of secessionist movement keep resurfacing.

MUKUL  HALOI

Mukul Haloi is from Nalbari, Assam. He was born in January 1991. He studied Film Direction at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. His short film “Days of Autumn” was appreciated at many festivals, including top prize at International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, 2017. It was also screened at DIFF 2017. His feature-length documentary “Tales From Our Childhood” had its International Premiere at ARKIPEL-Jakarta, 2018 and Indian premiere at MIFF.

A Glow Worm in a Jungle
Ramana Dumpala
India. 12 min.  2018

If you go to Budhwar Peth in Pune, you will find a house surrounded by trees, birds, cats, dogs, and piles and piles of books, cohabiting in organized chaos. This is where Hema Sane, a retired professor of botany, lives.

Boundary
Gaurav Puri
India. 11 min. 2018

Two cricket teammates, Amar and Armaan, have secretly fallen in love in an orthodox sporting atmosphere.
Set in today’s Indian city, Boundary is a short film about the boundaries of gender that contain our lives. Amar, a young promising cricketer has fallen for his teammate, Armaan. As state tournament approaches, their love intensifies. Raised is an orthodox family to be a ‘man’, Amar’s father has raised him to live his dream of playing for the nation. Amar finds himself on the boundary line between ambition and love, between mind and heart, can these two co-exist today? Sooner he finds, that one step in any direction can become a life’s path.

Bhagavati
Aakash Nagaraj Yankannavar
India. 12 min.  2018

Based on a mithila folklore Bhamati. Bhagavati is a
story of woman waiting for her husband to finish writing his book.
Time flies and they both lose the sense of time. He in writing his
book and she waiting for him. After 12 years when he is finished
writing his book, and acknowledges her, she is thrown into a
confusing reality.

AAKASH  NAGARAJ  YANKANNAVAR

Aakash Nagaraj is a film student and a filmmaker from India. Aakash’s interests include films, literature,and spirituality. He completed his Bachelor’s in Business administration from Karnataka and is currently in the final year of his post graduate diploma in filmmaking from Satyajit Ray Film & TeIevision Institute, kolkata