Shivamma, Maagh to be premiered in competition at Busan International Film Festival

The Kannada film Shivamma and Aamir Bashir’s Maagh will be making their world premieres in competition at the 27th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).

The Indian films are amongst the ten films chosen in competition for the New Currents section. They are eligible for the New Currents award, the FIPRESCI award, the NETPAC award, and the KB New Currents Audience award.

Shivamma marks the directorial debut of young filmmaker Jai Shankar. The Kannada film, produced by Rishab Shetty, “traces the struggles of a poor, uneducated, middle-aged woman along its distinguished narratives”.

Every day on Shivamma brought new challenges, says Jai Shankar

 It was one of five features chosen for the Film Bazaar’s 2021 Work-in-Progress Lab which was held virtually.

Actor and filmmaker Bashir previously directed Harud (2012). Maagh, also known as The Winter Within, is a co-production between India, France and Qatar. The drama is filmed in Bakarwali, Hindi, Kashmiri, and Urdu. It follows the story of a Kashmiri woman Nargis, whose husband goes missing, and has to struggle to survive.

The Indian films The Storyteller and Hadinelentu (Seventeeners) are also premiering at the festival, albeit in the Jiseok section. The 27th edition is being held from 5 – 14 October.