Sisak (film)

Sisak
Directed by	Faraz Arif Ansari
Written by	Faraz Arif Ansari
Starring	Jitin Gulati Dhruv Singhal
Music by	Dhawal Tandon
Running time	16
Country	India
Language	Silent

Sisak (2017) is a short film, starring Jitin Gulati and Dhruv Singhal. It was written and directed by Faraz Arif Ansari and is billed as India's first silent queer love story. The trailer was launched by Sonam Kapoor on 30 January on Twitter.^[1] It has won 59 international awards at various film festivals.^{[citation needed]}

Plot

Set in Mumbai, the plot follows two young men who regularly take the same local train home. Both are quiet and shy, but dare to come close enough to say something to each other, but just can't bring themselves to open their mouths.^[1]

Making

Ansari exhausted all his savings to make this film as it was refused by Indian studios who weren't comfortable dealing with a "taboo subject."^[2]

The post-production funding was gathered from a crowdsourcing campaign through Wishberry.^[1] Ansari raised $6,000 from 109 backers and the shooting was completed in nine months.^[3] The shooting was mostly done in guerrilla style on Mumbai's local trains.^[1]

Reception

The movie was screened at various film festivals around the world including Cannes, Wicked Queer in Boston, FilmOut San Diego Film Festival, 2017 KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, Mawjoudin Queer Film Festival, Internationale Kurzfilmwoche Regensburg,^[4] Outfest Fusion LGBT People of Color Film Festival^[5] and the Pune LGBT Festival screening. It has been nominated for the Iris Prize (an international LGBTQ short film prize).^[2][6]

The film was given 3.5/5 by a review on TOI and was praised as "A brave film that expresses dissent against section 377 of the Indian Penal Code".^[7] The film was nominated for the Satyajit Ray Award.^[8]

References

1. "Silent short film 'Sisak' is about a love that dare not speak its name". The Scroll. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
2. Mimansa Shekhar (13 June 2017). "Nobody wanted to produce Sisak, 2 top actors backed out too: India's first silent LGBTQ film director Faraz Arif Ansari". Indian Express. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
3. YOGESH PAWAR (3 February 2017). "India's first silent LGBTQI film headed for Cannes?". DNA. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
4. "Sisak Internationale Kurzfilmwoche Regensburg". Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
5. "21 Must-See Films About LGBTQ People of Color at Outfest Fusion". 28 February 2019.
6. Debiparna C (17 August 2017). "India's First Silent LGBTQ Love Story, Sisak Nominated For The Prestigious Iris Prize". Retrieved 18 August 2017.
7. Lobo, Dean. "Film Review - Sisak - India's first silent LGBT short film". The Times of India.
8. "LGBT film Sisak nominated for the Satyajit Ray Award". The Times of India.

External links

• Sisak at IMDb
• Sisak on Facebook