Directed by Ronny Sen, the black and white feature film came out as a result of the award winning photographer’s proximity to brown sugar (dirty heroin) addicts, called “patakhor” in Bengali, growing up in Kolkata’s Salt Lake in the 1990s and 2000s. Urged by friends, with a 17-page treatment, he began work on the screenplay with the actor of Q’s 2012 film Tasher Desh.
The film begins with three young characters – Pablo, Ronnie and Deshik, who make their way through an industrial wasteland and take shelter in an abandoned aircraft on a rainy night as they look for their next fix. But soon, it brings together disparate people from various parts of the city, all linked by their addiction.
So where does the film’s title come from? The name Cat Sticks comes from the brand of wax matchsticks that the addicts use to smoke smack. You need a uniform flame that can only come from a wax matchstick.
The ensemble cast includes Tanmay Dhanania, Sumeet Thakur, Joyraj Bhattacharjee, Rahul Dutta, Saurabh Saraswat, Sreejita Mitra, Raja Chakravorty and Kalpan Mitra.
The film is shot by Shreya Dev Dube, scored by British composer Oliver Weeks, and the film’s poster designed by iconic Polish artist Lech Majewski. It has been produced by Theodore Shivdasani, Soumyak Kanti De Biswas and Tanaji Dasgupta.
The festival, will run from January 25 – 31, 2019 in Park City, Utah, celebrating its 25th anniversary next year. Cat Sticks in one of eleven narrative features in competition.