Screening and Discussion of Toto Award Winning Films

Toto Funds the Arts (TFA)

in association with the National Gallery of Modern Art  

is proud to present the second edition of  

‘New Voices in Indian Films’ 

with a screening and discussion of 

Anoop Sathyan’s A Dream Called America and Raam Reddy’s Ika (Feather), 

both of which won the 2013 TOTO Awards for Short Film. 

Anusha Nandakumar’s Sita Haran aur Anya Kahaniyan, 

which was short-listed for the Awards, will also be screened

Date and Time: Saturday, 16 March 2013,   5–7 p.m. 

Venue:  National Gallery of Modern Art (Auditorium)

49, Palace Road, Bengaluru-560 052 (ph: 080-22342338)

Anoop Sathyan from Thrissur is an alumnus of the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, India. He quit his career as a software engineer in a leading MNC to follow his passion in films. 

Raam Reddy is a 23-year-old writer–filmmaker based in Bangalore.  Upon graduating from St Stephen’s in Economics, Raam experienced a growing interest in filmmaking. Over the last three years Raam has written and directed eight fiction short films. He recently graduated in Direction from Prague Film School.

Anusha Nandakumar is a 26-year-old filmmaker and scriptwriter based in Pune. She graduated in Direction from the Satyajit Ray Film Institute in Kolkata.

About the films

A Dream Called America (Documentary, Language: Hindi, English) A Dream Called America is about a Gujarati teenager who is hosted by an American couple for one year and now desperately wants to return to the US. 

The jurors for the 2013 TOTO short film awards said: “This disarming documentary is made with extraordinary maturity and complexity. It tells the story of a family living through material and emotional transition without judgment, and with affection and respect. The film never uses intimacy as currency to intrude on the private lives of the less privileged, even while telling a very personal story.”

Ika (Feather) (Fiction, Language: Telugu, with English subtitles) Ika is a film about a boy living in a slum in Bangalore who wants to make a film.  

According to the TOTO Awards jury, “This evocative film has a sharp eye, a warm, wise heart and a clear intellect. The film’s many layers have been handled with a remarkable lightness of touch. … Ika is an example of how a careful, clear crafting can create a sense of warmth and spontaneity. In a few fluid minutes it takes us into a story, a world and another life, creating pleasure and empathy as only art can.”

Sita Haran aur Anya Kahaniyan/Sita’s Abduction and Other Stories (Experimental fiction, Language: Hindi, with English subtitles) This is a short experimental film about a storyteller and his world of stories. 

The jurors for the TOTO Awards said: “The unique and enjoyable visual style of this film combines the folk and contemporary with whimsicality and flair. It is especially notable for its ability to use filmmaking language to evoke wonder and a sense of magic in a very similar way to the folk form it uses.”