Sapna Bhavnani's Wench Film Festival Spotlights Indian Talent In Sci-Fi & Horror

In the dimly lit theatres of Veda Factory, Mumbai, blood-curdling screams will harmonise with the whirring of futuristic gadgets at the Wench Film Festival 2024 (WFF). Scheduled to take place from February 29 to March 3, the fourth edition of this one-of-a-kind horror and sci-fi film festival will showcase a lineup of 29 films by artists and filmmakers from across the world. Founded by filmmaker-actor Sapna Moti Bhavnani, the festival throws a spotlight on the inclusivity of women, the LGBTQ+ community, Persons of Colour (POC), and other underrepresented communities celebrating boundless imagination. 

In a conversation with SheThePeople, Bhavnani evoked anticipation for WFF 2024, describing what makes this year unique from its previous editions. With a strong focus on Indian talents, the festival has a lineup of skilled participants, crème de la crème delegates, and exciting panels to offer film aficionados a taste of rich cultural art.

What Is Wench Film Festival?

Wench Film Festival prides itself on being India's first horror, sci-fi, and fantasy film festival showcasing works inclusive of women, non-binary, and LGBTQ+ communities. Derived from 'wenchel', a 13th-century word for a girl child, the term 'wench' has now acquired a derogatory connotation to describe promiscuous women. Founder and 'Chief Wench' Bhavnani said that choosing this name for her film festival is a reclamation of its original meaning with a mission to shape perspectives by shifting the gaze.

Beyond screenings and panels, the festival encompasses a host of events like Q&A sessions and pitch forums for aspiring film enthusiasts. "It's an indie fest that is growing. We don't have sponsors, so it's a lot of hard work but I'm very determined to grow the scene. Our jury comes from the biggest backgrounds in the genre film community. I feel the immense support that I've got from the world has been incredible. Everyone is cheering a small little festival in India that is trying to make it big!" Bhavnani expressed.

WFF 2024: India Focus Day

The third day of the film festival will be putting a well-deserved focus on Indian filmmakers and artists with 10 handpicked films. Sharing her excitement for this feat, Bhavnani expressed, "Our focus on India this year is a testament to the untapped potential of our storytellers and filmmakers, who are ready to take you on a journey through the unseen, the unknown, and the unimaginable."

She continued, "The horror and sci-fi genre has a growing community in India, which is why we started off by giving women a bigger platform here. The percentage of women-directed genre films in the world is only 2%. In India, it is even lower, so the point is to make the scene a little bit richer and bigger so that more women will also get more jobs directing writing or producing more genre films. We do take films made by men, as long as the protagonist of the film or the producer or writer is a woman."

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Sapna Bhavnani's Film, Landfills Of Desire

Bhavnani is also premiering one of her musical short films at the festival. Landfills Of Desire is about a vampire's insolent failure to find love. Shot in the picturesque scenery of Kashmir, Bhavnani described the inspiration behind the film.

"I was in Kashmir during lockdown shooting a music video and it was a time when lot of the people had lost their business. Watching them, I decided to make a film about a vampire's quest for love. The vampire signifies a lot about the people there, who were just looking for acceptance, looking for love. There are so many desires, and most of them just end up in 'landfills' because they're not fulfilled. I really relate a lot to landfills. I feel like using that is a great metaphor for just anything in life." she described.

Bhavnani also talked about the off-screen experience of exhibiting an unseen side of Kashmir. "I wanted to shoot Kashmir at night because you only really get to see the rich daytime, the terrain of the flowers, and all of that, but there is a whole thriving Kashmir that night even during the lockdown when nobody was there. Shooting Dal Lake at night and the silence and the beauty of it was a different side to Kashmir that I wanted to show," she said.