Tillotama Shome's 'Baksho Bondi' to compete in Perspective section of Berlinale 2025

New Delhi: Actor Tillotama Shome's Baksho Bondi will have its world premiere at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival.

The film by first-time filmmakers Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi will be screened as part of the Perspectives section, a new competitive strand aimed at providing a platform to the "exceptional emerging filmmakers from around the world".

The competition, which takes the place of the former Encounters section, comprises 14 debut feature films, competing for the Best First Feature Award at the film gala.

Titled Shadowbox in English, the movie is a co-production between India, France, the US and Spain.

In the movie, Shome stars as Maya who discovers that her husband – an ex-soldier who is suffering from PTSD - is the prime suspect in a murder investigation. She and her teenage son are forced to go to extremes to keep the family together, according to the official synopsis shared by the festival organisers.

Baksho Bondi also stars Chandan Bisht, Sayan Karmakar and Suman Saha in pivotal roles.

Filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane, who serves as an executive producer on the movie along with Jim Sarbh and Nikkhil Advani, shared the news of the film's premiere at Berlinale on Instagram.

"Couldn’t be more thrilled to share that our labour of love ‘Shadowbox’ (‘Baksho Bondi’), directed by Tanushree Das @tanushree_skreenfilms and Saumyananda Sahi @somosahi, has been selected in the new Perspectives Competition at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival," he wrote.

The film is produced by Naren Chandavarkar, Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Saumyananda Sahi.

Shome has co-produced the movie along with Dheer Momaya, Sidharth Meer, Dominique Welinski, Isabelle Glachant, Prashant Nair, Anjali Patil, Anu Rangachar, Ishaan Chandhok and Shruti Ganguly.

The Perspective section includes five films which are directed or co-directed by women and two by non-binary filmmakers.

The lineup also includes The Settlement by Mohamed Rashad, BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions by Kahlil Joseph, Where the Night Stands Still by Liryc Dela Cruz, The Devil Smokes by Ernesto Martínez Bucio, Two Times Joao Liberada by Paula Tomas Marques, Eel by Chu Chun-Teng, How to Be Normal and the Oddness of the Other World by Florian Pochlatko and Little Trouble Girls by Urska Djukic.

Mad Bills to Pay by Joel Alfonso Vargas, Growing Down by Balint Daniel Sos, Punching the World by Constanze Klaue, We Believe You by Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte Devillers; and That Summer in Paris by Valentine Cadic are the other titles.

The 2025 Berlin International Film Festival will be held from February 13-23.