Who is Sarmistha Maiti: Kolkata based filmmaker Sarmistha Maiti offering Kalkokkho, which captures the paranoia and loneliness that plagues many during the lockdown is heading for the international circuit.
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Kalkokkho (House of Time) has been selected to premiere on October 9, under the New Currents segment for Asian films in the 26th Busan International Film Festival.
The feature film is about how an apathetic doctor who is taken hostage by a young woman during the pandemic to ensure her family's safety. The desolate house is occupied by three generations of women-- a woman dealing with paranoia, an amnesic old woman and a lonely young girl.
According to Maiti, the film bridges magical realism and existential horror as it highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It expresses dread caused by the pandemic and also explores the themes like love, loneliness and grief, instinct and morality.
The film is directed jointly by Sarmistha Maiti and Rajdeep Paul, both alumni of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. The cast includes mostly newcomers like Janardan Ghosh, Tannistha Biswas and Sreelekha Mukherjee.
The film has also been selected for the 20th Dhaka International Film Festival scheduled to be held on January 2022.
This is not the first time the duo is directing the film together. They have been co-directors for award-winning short films like Malai (cream) and Kayantar (Metamorphosis).
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During one of the interviews, Aurora Film Corporation's Anjan Bose said that he got Maiti and Paul to direct the film Kalkokkho for the company, which is a cinema producing and distributing organisation that Bose's family has been running since 1906. The organisation has produced and distributed Satyajit Ray's films like Jalsaghar, Aparajito and Pather Panchali.
Who is Sarmistha Maiti?
Maiti is not just a talented director but also likes to write scripts and takes up the role of editor and production designer. She has also worked as a dialogue writer for her films like At The Crossroads Nondon Bagchi Life and Living (2013).
According to her Facebook bio, in 2004 she started college at Jadavpur University and completed graduation and post-graduation degrees in Comparative Literature. Later, in 2011, she studied film edition at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute.
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