Ashwatthama
After bandits raid their home killing his mother, 9-year-old Ishvaku is sent to his uncle’s village to start a new life with his cousins. Still in shock and pain, Ishvaku tries to cope with his loss by entering an imaginary realm. But the difficulties and mysteries of reality won’t let him go that easily.
Director
Pushpendra Singh studied at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, where he is now also a visiting faculty member. He began his career as an actor under theatre guru Barry John in Delhi. He later played a lead role in director Amit Dutta’s Venice award-winning film The Man’s Woman And Other Stories (Aadmi Ki Aurat Aur Anya Kahaniya, 2009). He also acted in Maximilian Linz’s German feature Asta Upset, which screened at the 64th Berlin Film Festival. His debut feature as a director The Honour Keeper (Lajwanti, 2014) premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. He is also working on his documentary, Shifting Lines Of The Desert (a recipient of Busan’s Asian Network of Documentary Fund) set in the Thar desert, Rajasthan, about an extended family of low caste Muslim musicians struggling to maintain their identity as musical inheritors of their Hindu upper caste patrons.
Ashwatthama, his second feature, premiered at Busan International Film Festival in the New Currents Section.
Festivals/Awards
Busan International Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival