III Smoking Barrels poster: Guns, blood and the north-east hold centrestage

The poster of first-time filmmaker Sanjib Dey's III Smoking Barrels brings together all three stories of the anthology film. III Smoking Barrels has been shot in English, Hindi, Bengali, Assamese and Manipuri and highlights a few of the issues that plague the people of the north-east.

What is striking about the poster is that three key characters, two men and one young girl, are armed and determined. The film, which has been shot in the north-east, is aiming to show the issue facing the region — from drug abuse and armed conflict to poaching.

III Smoking Barrels was nominated for the Grand Newcomer Award at the 66th International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg in Germany last November 2017. The film's ensemble cast is made up of Indraneil Sengupta, Subrat Dutta, Shiny Gogoi, Siddharth Boro, Mandakini Goswami and Amrita Chattopadhyay.

Writer-director Sanjib Dey said in a statement about his debut, "The film is not just about one particular state but the whole of the north-east. There has never been a feature film made wholesomely representing the special region which is a warehouse of eight provinces, more than 200 dialects, huge ethnic diversities, rich natural resources and yet encompassed with many conflicts and hard hitting issues. But the challenge lay in seamlessly accommodating them all in one film. It is one of the most exciting films of this year because it has the right vibe and some great music."

III Smoking Barrels, produced by Amit Malpani, is due to be released on 21 September 2018.