Shashank Walia’s Birds in the Dark (Hanere De Panchi) has received numerous awards in Busan, marking a significant milestone for independent film in India. At the 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), the film won both the Songwon Vision Audience Award and the renowned New Currents Award, earning 30 million Korean won in prize money. The Songwon Vision Audience Award is determined by audience votes, whilst the New Currents Award is given to new filmmakers. The Punjabi-language film’s double award, which comes after its world premiere in the festival’s Vision section, is a noteworthy accomplishment.

Birds in the Dark, starring Mauli Singh, Sapna Das, Harwinder Singh Aujila, Navdeep Bajwa, and Shahnawaz Bhat, is a black-and-white film set in rural Punjab. The film weaves a very human story from the social and emotional landscapes of its setting by examining the intersections of gender, caste, class, labor, justice, and love.

The film is produced by Reema Kaur for Two Black Squares, and Hansal Mehta and Sahil Saigal for True Story Films. Kaur has also edited the film.

Writer-director-cinematographer Shashank Walia said, “I’m thrilled to have won numerous prizes for my debut feature. One informs us that the film’s story has found a home in the hearts of individuals who may live thousands of miles away from the world we have shown, while the other hails it as a new voice in Asian cinema. That, in our opinion, is the true power of film”.

Hansal Mehta, the producer, said, “This is huge! We are honored to support independent voices like Shashank’s and his exquisitely daring film as they travel the globe. Without altering it to suit a market, Shashank and Reema created Birds in the Dark on their own terms and in their own language. Every narrative, storyteller, and cinematic voice, in my opinion, has an audience. Our goal is to assist them in locating it. The audience exists outside of Punjab, as evidenced by the jury and audience awards at Busan”.

One of Asia’s top film festivals, the Busan International Film Festival was established in 1996 and is renowned for supporting independent film, up-and-coming directors, and unique voices from all around the region.

Congrats on the win.

Priyanka Dutta