An indie Kannada film making waves at festivals

'1888', an Indie Kannada feature film, has won multiple awards at numerous film festivals. Despite its good run at the festival circuit, the film has no takers from the OTT world and it is struggling for a theatrical release, says director Sourabh Shukla.

The film is a thriller which is inspired from real life incidents that took place after the demonitisation in 2016. "This story doesn't get into the politics of demonitisation but only looks at the implications it had. We also end up seeing the implications of demotisation on things like cryptocurrency and what people did to convert black money into white and so on," Sourabh tells DH.

The story is helped by interesting characters, he says. "There is an LIC agent who comes from a middle class family, and an actress who tries to become a politician. They cross paths and what happens next is crucial," he adds.

Talking about the filmmaking style, Sourabh says, "This is a Guerrilla film shot on a small budget. Right from scriptwriting to choreography to execution, this is a proper indie film. We shot the film in real locations."

While the movie has won several awards in festivals held in countries such as Iran, London, Tokyo, and Brazil, it is struggling for an official release, be it on OTT or in theatres. "The film festivals are the only platforms we independant film makers get to showcase our films. The OTT platforms are star stuck and they prefer films with big banners. They aren't keen on indie films anymore," explains the filmmaker.

Some of the accolades won by the film are as follows:

*Winner of 8 awards at Milan Gold Awards, Italy

*Winner at Rameshwaram International Film Festival for Best Feature and Best Debut Filmmaker

*Finalist and Honorable mention at the London Movie Awards, London International Monthly Film Festival and Tokyo International Monthly Film Festival.

*Winner of 3 awards at Tagore International Film Festival, including Best Actress, Best Feature and Best Director

*Best Screenplay at International Motion Picture Awards, Canada

*Winner at Druk International Film Festival, Bhutan

*Winner of 4 awards at Golden Lion International Film Festival, including Best Cinematography and Best Editor

*Winner at the prestigious Adolph Zukor International Film Festival, Hungary

*Won 6 awards at Virgin Spring Cinefest, including Best Soundtrack, Best Film, Best Actress and Best Director

*Critic’s Choice Award at Calcutta International Cult Film Festival.