Uttam Kamati’s debut feature-length Santhali movie is titled Kherwal and is competing in the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival.
29th KIFF Updates
The 2023 Kolkata international Film Festival is said to exhibit 219 films this year, including 72 feature films and 50 short films and documentaries from 39 countries across 23 venues. The competition includes 13 films vying for the Golden Royal Bengal trophy for the Best Film and Director categories with the price money of 51 lakhs and 21 lakhs respectively.
SRK has been replaced by Sourav Ganguly as the Brand Ambassador of West Bengal and he might not make an appearance at KIFF this year.
The opening ceremony was attended by West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee, Salman Khan, Sonakshi and Shatrughan Sinha amongst others.
The Red Sea Film Festival is also taking place right now in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
About the Santhali film Kherwal
The film has been hailed for its cinematography and the choice of negligible background score. Uttam kamati wrote the draft for the film in 11 -12 years ago. Through his engagement with photography, he gained a deeper understanding of the lifestyle and culture of the Santhal community in Birbhum and Santiniketan.
He had a tough time getting non-actors accustomed to the process of acting and filmmaking. Kamati did the cinematography, editing and most of the heavy work all by himself until the lockdown caused further interruptions in production.
Premise of the film
The demise of the Norwegian academic, Samuel, occurs in a Santhali village where he had expressed a desire to be laid to rest. Bidu is determined to honor Samuel’s final wish. Bidu’s five-year-old son is heartbroken as he cannot fulfill Samuel’s promise to take him to Norway. Nevertheless, the child’s optimism is renewed when Samuel’s daughter, Lauren, arrives in the village.
About Uttam Kamati
Kamati is an independent filmmaker from Cooch Behar’s Mekhliganj, and his film is competing in the Indian language films category. This is the first time a Santhali film has been officially selected to compete. Prior to this project, he created several short films, one of which, titled Hope, received recognition at the sustainability contest in Dresden, Germany, and the FINI festival in Mexico.
He has also worked as a cinematographer on various projects, including feature films, ad films, short films, and music videos. He has garnered international acclaim for his photography, winning awards such as the Environmental Photographer of the Year in London in 2015. Additionally, he received accolades in photography contests like the DMZ International Half and Half Photography Contest in South Korea, the South Korea DMZ Global Peace Award, Orhan Holding, and the FIAP Bronze from Turkey.
The Santhali language is spoken by the Santhal community which is the largest indigenous ethnic group in India, who largely belong to the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal. The representation of this community in media is almost non existent. It is a step in the right direction that such film festivals are finally opening up their platform for storytelling by marginalized minorities.
