Multiple awards winner ‘Khisa’ selected for Indian International Film Festival

The Marathi short film ‘Khisa’, which has been screened at many national and international film festivals, has been officially selected for the 51st Indian International Film Festival. The festival will be held in Goa from 16 to 24 January 2021. Produced under the banners P.P. Cine Productions, Mumbai and Laltippa, the film is directed by Raj Pritam More and is written by Kailash Waghmare. The entire film was shot in Akola, Vidarbha, Maharashtra.

At the Istanbul Film Awards 2020, ‘Khisa’ won the award for Best Film and Best Screenplay. At the 10th Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival, which is considered to be very prestigious, ‘Khisa’ also carved its name on the award for best screenplay. The short film has been nominated for the prestigious Golden Star Award at the IFA Annual Live Screening Festival in Istanbul, Turkey in March 2021. At the Dublin International Short and Music Festival 2020, ‘Khisa’ has been nominated for Best International Short Film and Best Director. The premiere of the short film will be screened online at the festival.  ‘Khisa’ has also won the Best Debut Director and Best Supporting Actor awards at the Mumbai International Cult Film Festival.

‘Khisa’ was official selection at Montreal Independent Film Festival, Canada, 26th Kolkata International Film Festival, DioRoma International Film Festival, Argentina, Jaipur International Film Festival, Dioroma Indie Shorts Awards, Argentina. The short film was also selected at the Dharamshala International Film Festival to be held at Dharamshala from October 28 to November 4, 2020.  The world premiere of the short film was also scheduled but due to the ongoing pandemic,  the festival was organised online.

Raj Pritam More, winner of 54th National award of Lalit Kala Akadami, spoke about his film ‘Khisa’, ‘This film underlines the national social atmosphere and prevalent primitive rural mentality. The story focuses on a small boy who gets stitched a bigger pocket (Khisa) to accommodate his bigger wishes. It’s an emotional story which is thought provoking too.’

In this short film, Kailash Waghmare, Meenakshi Rathod, Shruti Madhideep, Dr. Sheshpal Ganvir, Vedant Shreenagar have portrayed different characters and has music by Parijat Chakraborty.  Santosh Maithani is the editor while Simarjit Singh Suman is the cinematographer.