KASHISH 2021 INDIAN NARRATIVE SHORTS FILM IN COMPETITION
The following films are nominated for the Best Indian Narrative Short Award which carries a KASHISH Golden Butterfly Trophy and cash prize of Rs. 25,000 supported by Anticlock Films.
BEGUM PARVATHI
Dir: Radhika Prasidhha / 8 min / India
Begum Parvathi is a eight minute short conversational piece between two characters. Two women meet online. Over the course of a few months, they share an intimate connection that develops over phone calls, texts and other virtual exchanges. The possibility of meeting in real life fills them with curiosity, hesitation, longing and maybe even a little bit of catastrophising for their own individual reasons. Do they end up on the same page? Will they meet? Will they hold hands? The conversation unfolds.
INSIDE (Akam)
Dir: Jinesh VS / 14 min / India
The COVID lockdown has taken charge. Every single person is required to be inside. Nobody could go anywhere. Those who lived everyday shuttled from work to home and vice versa are confined within homes. The movie is about a 25-year-old girl, Aaru who explores the underlying thrusts, senses, and insinuations of her psyche during the lockdown period. She finds comfort in the presence of her friend. They find bliss in their deep conversations and verbal expeditions. But gradually she is ascertained with a life-changing perception about herself. And she can’t process this apprehension. Inside is about how Aaru sorts that realization, or her life for that matter.
CLOSETS (Almariyaan)
Dir: Jiya Bhardwaj / 18 min / India
Closets (Almariyaan) is a journey of a middle – class Indian couple who work on learning and accepting their son’s sexuality and help make a comfortable ground for him to come out of ” the closet” , but when the actual truth comes out, they can’t come to terms with it. A perfect satire to bring out the importance and acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community in India in the current times, the film is a fun ride that leaves you with thinking about much more than it projects.
ARE WE THERE YET?
Dir: Bhanu Babbal, Kashyap Swaroop / 7 min / India
When two contrasting personalities are thrown into a new world of constant cohabitation, under the creeping clouds of mortality, they are left to navigate through an important life decision together – revealing the truth of their relationship to a parent figure.
THE LONELY PRINCE
Dir: Shivin, Sunny / 15 min / India
A lonely Prince, drowning in melancholy, invites a Sculptor to his court to create a piece of art just for him. As the Sculptor spends his days chiselling away on a block of marble, the Prince too discovers a new side of himself, for a brief moment forgetting the world of solitude that surrounds him.
KEEP PUNCHING
Dir: Kirnay Bhatt / 25 min / India
The squared circle of life presents a fair share of opponents for the small town, introverted boxer, Kirnay, who dreams of representing her country.
