Bengal film ‘Blue Whale’ swims to Cannes

FT ONLINE

The Bengali short film based on the infamous online game — ‘Blue Whale’ — has swam straight to the French Riviera. The 13-minute film directed by Anirban Guha and Avi Bandyopadhyay has been selected for the Cannes Short Film Corner to be held between May 8 and May 19.

However, this out-of-competition segment — for which a maker has to pay 85 Euros (approximately Rs 6,800) — is different from the festival’s prestigious Cinefondation section which selects 15 to 20 short and medium-length films each year from film schools all over the world.

The makers of ‘Blue Whale’ are keeping their fingers crossed and waiting for the list of short films in official competition at Cannes to be announced in April.

Incidentally, this is the third time that Guha’s film has been screened in this segment, which the Cannes Film Festival website describes as “a meeting place for professionals from all over the world”.

“Organised by the Festival de Cannes, the Short Film Corner is the essential rendezvous for filmmakers. Since 2004, short-film producers and directors have chosen the Short Film Corner to present their films, make meetings reality and take decisive steps for their future. The Short Film Corner proposes films from all over the world, most previously unseen, as well as the short films selected in the Official Competition, the Cinefondation, the Director’s Fortnight and the Critic’s Week,” the website says.

The ‘Blue Whale’ directors said the numerous incidents of teen suicides in Kolkata and other parts of India because of this game prompted them to hunt for a story that could be adapted for their short film on this subject. Then they chanced up on Tanmay Mukherjee’s short story titled ‘Debu ar Blue Whale Curator’.

The storyline of this Darshana Banik and Satrajit Sarkar starrer revolves around a 19-year-old girl who goes to meet the curator of the online game after completing the first 49 tasks.

“The film deals with how depression affects teenagers,” Guha said, adding that the efforts will be successful if this film can impact the younger generation positively and help the younger generation overcome depression.