Aabobo Film Festival 2018: Reema Sen Gupta's Counterfeit Kunkoo, Umesh Kulkarni's Three of Us to be screened on Day 1

The three-day long Aabobo Film Festival, Goa — set to flag off on 30 November — will showcase critically acclaimed short films and host panel discussions with film critics and few of the makers of the featured works. The festival will open with a line up of four shorts: Memories of a Machine, Counterfeit Kunkoo, Three of Us and The Housemaids. Shailaja Pandindala’s ten-minute short Memories of a Machine stars Kani Kusruti, known for her performance in the 2010 Malyalam film Cocktail. Pandindala’s film revolves around a girl’s confessions to her close friend about her  sexual expeditions during her childhood. The film has been screened at the Bangalore Queer Film Festival, 2016 and won the award for the Best Film at the Fish and Chips Film Festival, Italy in 2017. [caption id=“attachment_5632581” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Stills from Counterfeit Kunkoo (Left) and Memories of a Machine (Right). Images via Aabobo[/caption] Aabobo will also be screening Reema Sen Gupta’s Counterfeit Kunkoo, which was the only Indian film to have made it into the official selection of the Sundance Film Festival, 2018. Set in Mumbai, it revolves around this city of dreams and the story of a woman who escapes an abusive marriage only to struggle to find a roof over her head. The film attempts to highlight the issue that a woman’s independence is not enough for her to qualify as an ideal tenant because she does not come with a husband. Released in 2008, Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s Three of Us, also a part of the line-up, was the recipient of the National Award for the Best Non-fiction Film of that year. The creator of other acclaimed Marathi features such as Valu, Vihir and Deool and shorts like Girni and Garud, will also be a part of the panel discussion on Day 1 of the film festival along with actors Kusruthi, Sachit Puranik, Abhishek Banerjee, filmmaker Asawari Jagushte and film critic Sachin Chatte. Jagushte’s short film, The Housemaids, tells the story of two sisters, chambermaids to an old, vegetative Madame. It explores their desires that emerge from within their twisted selves, from their lives lived in submission and their unfulfilled desires. The film draws inspiration from Jean Genet’s French play, The Maids, and questions societal norms and caste divide in India. The film festival, to be held at the Museum of Goa, Bardez and organised by Aabobo, is the fourth chapter of this group, with the other three conducted in Mumbai. Aabobo was created primarily with an aim to support the spirit of Indie Cinema. The festival kicks off on 30 November and will go on till 2 December.