Join us for the screening of the film, KHANAUR (BITTER CHESTNUT) directed by Gurvinder Singh at Arthshila Goa. 

Film Curation by Ashok Vish

DETAILS:
Saturday, 18 January 2025
6.30 pm onwards
Running Time: 100 mins
Languages: Pahari, Hindi & English
Subtitles: English

Muddled with his own desires and his family’s desires for him, Kishan, a boy of 17, has to make a choice: whether to live a predictable life around his remote Himalayan village or migrate to the city. Working in a café and witnessing fast changing life around him, and migrations and reverse-migrations, he has disturbed sleep and bad dreams at nights. And at times, has visions while awake—flashes of fleeting but strong images.

‘Khanaur’ is the local word for a bitter variety of chestnut, which the villagers believe is made edible by washing regularly for seven straight days. The film looks at the aspirations, fears, and insecurities of living in the present times, through the eyes of Kishan. It is about the inner beauty and charm of people who live in harmony with nature—till now free of the constant pressure of conformity, of embracing consumerism and fruits of globalisation. Kishan will want to leave one day, wanting to indulge in these temptations.

About the Director:

Gurvinder Singh is a graduate from the Film & Television Institute of India (2000). His films include the Punjabi Trilogy: ’Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan’ (2011), ‘Chauthi Koot'( 2015) and ‘Adh Chanani Raat’ (2022); and ‘Khanaur’ (2019) which is in Pahari dialect. He has also directed many short films and documentaries, the latest one being “Trolley Times”, a long documentary on the farmers’ protests of 2020-21. His films have premiered and screened at many prestigious film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Busan, Rotterdam, Munich, London, Singapore etc, besides at the MoMA, New York. The HOME arts centre, Manchester, screened his three Punjabi films as a trilogy in 2022. He has won 3 National Awards: Best Director for ‘Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan’ and Best Punjabi language films for ‘Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan’ and ‘Chauthi Koot’. He has also won the Golden Peacock for best Film at IFFI, Goa (2012) and the Golden Gateway Award at MAMI (2015), besides other international awards. He has conducted workshops at his alma mater FTII (Pune), the SRFTII (Kolkata) and at the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad). He translated and published a book of conversations between his mentor, the filmmaker Mani Kaul and Hindi writer Udayan Vajpeyi, titled ‘Uncloven Space’. Currently he is working towards a film centred around Bhagat Singh’s trial and a docu-fiction on Amrita Shergill. He lives near Chandigarh.

Venue: Arthshila Goa
273, Nachinola, North Goa: 403508