The 34th Venice Critics Week lineup has just been announced and we have great news on this edition. The opening film of the event is the animation film Bombay Rose by Gitanjali Rao, a United Kingdom, India, and France co-production, out of competition. Mostly a director, you would remember her as Shiuli’s mother in Shoojit Sircar’s wondrous 2018 film October, for which we earned a Filmfare Award nomination too.
Bombay Rose is inspired by the romance of Bollywood and told through exquisite hand-painted animation created by award-winning animator Gitanjali Rao. Based on true events, and painted frame by frame and woven delicately through music, a red rose brings together three tales of impossible loves. Love between a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy. Love between two women. Love of an entire city for its Bollywood stars.
Escaping from child marriage, Kamala, a young club dancer living in the streets of Bombay, must choose between fending for her family and finding love with Salim, a Kashmiri boy orphaned by the militancy. The musical romance is told through the eyes of a deaf-mute boy, Tipu, where the biggest love may be for this chaotic and beautiful city. In the words of Gitanjali Rao herself, “BOMBAY ROSE is a homage to the undying romantic, living the celluloid dream.”
The Venice International Film Critics’ Week (SIC) is an independent and parallel section, organized by the National Union of Italian Film Critics (SNCCI) during the 76th Venice International Film Festival. It was founded in 1984 by Italian film historian and critic Lino Micciché, selected first feature films by emerging directors who then went on establishing themselves in the international panorama.
Rao graduated with honours as a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai, in 1994. She is a self-taught animator, filmmaker, illustrator, teacher and theatre artist. She has since, independently produced, directed and animated three internationally award-winning short films, Orange, Printed Rainbow and True Love Story.
The 34th edition features a selection of seven debut films in competition and two special films out of competition as the opening and closing films. All of the films are being presented in world premiere screenings. The closing film would be Sanctorum by Joshua Gil, a Mexico, Qatar, and Dominican Republic co-production. The seven films in competition are –
Jeedar El Sot / All This Victory by Ahmad Ghossein (Lebanon, France, Qatar)
Partenonas / Parthenon by Mantas Kvedaravičius (Lithuania, Ukraine, France)
El Principe / The Prince by Sebastian Muñoz (Chile, Argentina, Belgium)
Psykosia / Psychosia by Marie Grahtø (Denmark, Finland)
Rare Beasts by Billie Piper (United Kingdom)
Sayidat Al Bahr / Scales by Shahad Ameen (UAE, Iraq, Saudi Arabia)
Tony Driver by Ascanio Petrini (Italy, Mexico)
The 76th Venice International Film Festival will run from 28 August to 7 September 2019. And we cannot wait till Bombay Rose releases in India.