Indian short film selected for screening at IFFR

Short film "Aahuti" by Delhi-based independent filmmaker Lubdhak Chatterjee has been selected to be screened at this year's International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), a platform focussing on recent work by "talented new filmmakers".

Chatterjee's silent, black and white film that has been chosen in the festival's 'Wait and See' category, explores the "idea of life and beyond".

In the 15-minute-long film, the 28-year-old director has created a fictional space and time during which a community realises that their responsibilities in that ecosystem have been fulfilled, and that they prefer to migrate to a different space-time matrix. They pay tribute to the fundamental elements of existence by performing a ritual.

"The idea regarding 'Aahuti' first struck me while I was shooting my last film 'Vaikhari', which was about rhythmic utterances in Hindustani classical dance and music.

'Aahuti' became a vehicle to initiate an experience of the essence of fundamentals of existence -- personal and cosmic -- through a ritualistic performance," the filmmaker, who is currently in Rotterdam for the screening, said.

The use of sounds played an integral role in bringing his idea to life, he said.

"For me it is not just the content, but also the form, which is integral to the experience. Sound becomes essential in that form which in itself is pregnant with evocation of multiple layers of experience," he said.

"Aahuti" is Chatterjee's third film after "Vaikhari" (2018) and "In a Free State" (2016).