the goan I network
MAPUSA
A Maharashtrian migrant rents a room in a conservative town in North Goa and quietly moves in with his paramour that fateful night. But a sudden attack on his car and the subsequent congregation of the Goan neighbourhood calling out to him, leaves him in cold sweat…
That’s the narrative of a short Konkani film – A Cold Summer Night – selected for the prestigious 71st Locarno International Film Festival 2018 in Switzerland.
The director of the short film is a 21-year-old lad, Yash Sawant, who hails from Mapusa.
A Cold Summer Night will have its world premiere at the festival and is the only Indian film this year to be part of the Locarno film fest.
The film will be the first Indian film in 10 years to compete in the Pardi di domani (Leopards of Tomorrow) international competition section at Locarno.
For young Sawant it’s a double whammy, as the venture is his debut short film and the only Indian film that will be screened at the festival.
“It still feels surreal as we just finished the film last month and we’re already set to begin our festival circuit. We couldn’t have expected a better opening than Locarno, the most prestigious and reputed platform for Auteur driven Art house films,” said Sawant bubbling with excitement.
It was even sweeter for the young film writer and director who had no production house to back him. He said the film was self-financed and canned with a budget of around Rs 6 lakh.
Sawant said that he did approach the State government for financial aid but he wasn’t successful.
He said at the end of the 21-minute short film leaves a lot of questions for a discernible film lover.
Giving a short description of his film, Sawant said that he has tried to be as honest as possible with the story.
“It was a real incident and I was a witness to it. I tried to capture how a migrant is treated in our land. I am not trying to judge anyone. I am not even trying to convey any social message. It’s 21 minutes of how the entire drama unfolds,” Sawant said.
The producer of the film, Arvin Vaz said the film leaves the audience with a lot of questions about the society.
“How we treat adultery. Our behaviour towards migrants…It leaves us with questions to answer for ourselves. We hope it will reach out to a large audience in the world because it is made raw and very true to the culture we have here,” Vaz said.
The cast of the film comprises of Keatan Jadhav in the lead, Rajiv Hede, Gauri Kamat, Vinita Velip and Aresh Naik.
Siddesh Naik, Bikal Pradhan, Ashutosh Girkar, Mario Fernandes, Prajwal Tari, Ancil Mathew, Kishen Savjani and Jules Goes were the other members of the crew.
The film will be premiered on August 2 with repeat screenings on August 3 and 4.
A candid Sawant informed that he was pursuing his career in fine arts but he dropped out two years ago ostensibly to do a feature film, which was not yet out but is expected to be out soon.
