Juze
Boribmol, a village in Goa with a large immigrant population, is ruled by an abusive, thuggish bully, Juze, known as the ‘Slum Landlord’. His appetite for violent intimidation keeps his immigrant workforce submissive, even when his roving eye extends to their women.
Santosh, a 16-year-old boy, is not intimidated. His determination to continue with his classes remains constant in spite of regular beatings from Juze. As events build to a breaking point, Santosh’s passive resistance evolves into the determination to confront Juze and finally achieve freedom from fear.
Director
A native of Goa, Miransha Naik completed his filmmaking studies at Whistling Woods International, Mumbai, specialising in screenwriting. In 2012, he began working as a writer at Gitanjali Creations, a Mumbai-based production house before making short films under his own banner, Thin Air Productions. JUZE is his feature film debut.
Naik cast the film using mostly non-professional actors from Goa; although Prashanti Talpankar who plays ‘Tai’ had previous experience while Rushikesh Naik (Santosh), Sudesh Bhise (Juze) and Ranav Narote (Abdul) were in a short film he made one year prior to JUZE. Otherwise, auditions were held all over Goa from which a short list was selected to participate in a workshop from which final cast were chosen for the respective roles.
Festivals/Awards
Hong Kong 2017, Karlovy Vary 2017, Mami Gold 2017, IFFI Indian Panorama 2017, Minsk International Film Festival 2017 (Special Jury Award), Cork 2017, National Film festival of Kerala, Visionar Germany, PIFF 2018, Biffes 2018, New York Indian Film festival 2018, Indian Film festival of Melbourne, Innovative International Film Festival, Bangalore (Best Debut Director)