Attention cinephiles: The PickUrFlick festival in Delhi is celebrating the best of indie films

As the 70th Cannes Film Festival unfolds at the French Riviera, another film festival will be taking place in New Delhi, which is centered on independent cinema and movie makers. The PickUrFlick Indie Film Festival (being held at the Instituto Cervantes from 19-21 May) will feature 70 films made in various languages, and part of its itinerary are two world premieres, 35 Asian premieres and six Indian premieres.

Arabic animation film AYNY-My Second Eye, which won a Golden Oscar, will open the festival, while Hore Die Stille (Hear The Silence), a WWII German film will close it. In this edition of the film fest, the spotlight is on Spain, as there is a special focus on Spanish and Latin American films.

Fourteen of the films being screened are silent ones, and eight are animation films. Some of the animation films listed are Otto, directed by Job, Joris and Marieke, which centers on a childless woman who steals the imaginary friend of a little girl, and Walter Tournier’s Cease Game, where a boy and a dog try to protect themselves in the midst of a war. Seven feature films, including Jaicheng Jai Dohutia’s Haanduk (The Hidden Corner), the Assamese film which won the Best Feature award at the 64th National Film Awards, will be screened. This film fest also has 52 short films, shot in Hindi, Kurdish, Persian, English and Cantonese. These short films explore a variety of topics, such as personal stories, the refugee crisis, relationships and crime. Dhruva Harsh’s Hindi short Honourable Mention, which tells the story of the life of a workaholic professor in Allahabad University, who meets with failure every time despite working hard, and Saman Hosseinpuor’s Autumn Leaves, which is a Persian short that chronicles a day in the life of a little girl going to school, are two interesting examples. Also part of this film festival are three documentaries — Dr. Abdul Rashid Bhat’s The Bitter Truth, Claudia Kedney-Bolduc’s Chemins de Glaces (Ice Paths) and Harjant Gill’s Sent Away Boys. They explore the subjects of the plight of Dal lake of Kashmir, ice canoeing and the transformation of Punjab, respectively. There will also be an award ceremony as a part of the PickUrFlick Indie Film Festival, where the filmmakers will be felicitated under the categories of Best Director, Best Short Film, Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Animation, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Screenplay, Viewers’ Choice Award and the Emerging Talent Award. The PickUrFlick Indie Film Festival will be held at Instituto Cervantes, New Delhi from 19-21 May. You register for this film festival here, and check out the schedule of the screenings here. The PickUrFlick Indie Film Festival is powered by Firstpost.