Journo's film to be screened at Cannes

A Malayali journalist’s debut short film, which is set against the backdrop of re-criminalisation of gay sex in India, has been selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner.

“Penile Code”, a 14-minute short film directed by 27-year-old Sharat Chandra Bose, will be screened at the Cannes Court Metrage-Short Film Corner. The Cannes festival will be held between May 13 and 23.

“After viewing your short film, we are glad to inform you that it has been accepted for the 2015 Short Film Corner,” the organisers informed Bose, a Delhi-based journalist with Malayalam daily “Mangalam”.

Made at a shoestring budget of Rs 45,000, the short film explores the troubles of a young lesbian couple in an Indian city where gay sex is banned. “Their relational dynamics undergo a massive change when an unexpected intruder enters their personal and sexual life,” Bose said.

Bose’s short film, shot in surrealistic method, explores the violence in relationship between the two principal players and their struggle with society.

The Supreme Court verdict in December 2013 criminalising lesbian and gay relationship has acted as one of the catalysts for my film, Bose, a post-graduate in Arts and Aesthetics from JNU, said.