A 26 minute film that tells stories of the Santhali tribe of India, ‘Rang Mahal’ – directed by Prantik Basu – is well on its’ way to the 2019 Berlinale Shorts Competition!

Prantik Basu

Prantik Basu

The film that released in 2018, ‘Rang Mahal’ is possibly the first film in Santhali language to be traveling to an international film festival.

At the 2019 edition of Berlinale Shorts, 24 films from 17 countries will be competing for the Golden and Silver Bear, the Audi Short Film Award (endowed with 20,000 euros) and a nomination as “Berlin Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards 2019″.

The films of the 2019 edition of the Berlinale Shorts’ international competition treat diverse aspects of power, visibility and knowledge, as integral elements in the section’s overarching examination of the nature of participation. “We need new role models and a multitude of stories if we are to create a viable future for all of us,” states curator Maike Mia Höhne, who has served as section head for Berlinale Shortssince 2007 and will be assuming the role of artistic director of the Hamburg International Short Film Festival from March 2019.

The International Short Film Jury for 2019 is composed of US-American Jeffrey Bowers, Senior Curator at Vimeo, Croatia’s Vanja Kaludjercic, Director of Acquisitions at MUBI, and Koyo Kouoh, founder and artistic director of RAW Material Company from Senegal.