Subhashish Bhutiani’s short film Kush is the only Indian film to be selected for the coming Venice International Film Festival. The 20-minute film will be screened in the Orizzonti section of the festival, which is dedicated to new trends in world cinema. There are nine other films in this section.

While Siddharth by Richie Mehta got selected for Venice Days, no Indian film has made it to Venezia 70, the international competition section for feature films neither has there been an Indian feature has been selected for out-of-competition presentation.

Kush featuring Sonika Chopra, Shayaan Sameer and Anil Sharma is inspired by a true story : In 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards, causing anti-Sikh riots to erupt throughout the country. A teacher travelling back from a field trip with her class of 10-year-old students struggles to protect Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, from the growing violence around him.

Bhutiani recently graduated from School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York.  Kush premiered at SVA’s films and animation festival and won three awards: Best Film, Outstanding Achievement in Directing, and Outstanding Achievement in Editing.