White, a silent film on Rape directed by Aneek Chaudhuri will be shown at Festival de Cannes in Marche du film section on May 11. The film is produced by La Artiste productions and Adler and Associates Ent. Will represent the film at Cannes.
India is a country which has one of the highest sexual assault cases most of which go unreported due to shame or due to fear of losing prestige in society; however, this film is about the fight that comes afterwards. Three women leading their lives differently all of a sudden face a heinous truth and try to come out of it in their own unique way.
The concept of White came into my mind while I was at Cannes last year and was exposed to a report showing statistics of sexual assaults on women throughout the globe. That was the time when I actually believed that rape is not an issue confining itself to India; women are being treated the same way even in other countries (as per the statistics). We end up talking about the rapists, the victims but hardly anyone speaks about the struggle that the victims suffer from. Hence, I tried to be responsible and show an unspoken side of such assaults. Luckily, I possessed one of the most powerful weapons i.e. the camera.
White, is another step where I have been trying to eliminate the usage of language and give a touch of universality to topics that require attention. It is believed that the silent nature of the film would make it more approachable to world audiences.
The title of this film is White as it refers to serenity and hope. It stresses on the fact that women being the epitome of serenity has this very ability to see a ray of hope even in the darkest situations. Imagine a dark room and a lost needle, a woman has the capability to locate the lost needle even in the absence of light. The film is all about hoping for a ray of better life with an unending fight.
White is not about a demise, it’s about the birth of a voice. There have been a couple of heinous incidents in our nation that should be addressed with a voice reaching the policy makers. Something needs to be done about such assaults. We would be happy to take the voice forward.
It was not a challenge, but more of a necessity when we had to involve universality in our film. It was in a way tough when expressions needed to be top- notch so that our target audiences would be able to empathize with the characters. We are quite hopeful that people of any nationality would be able to empathize with the characters in the film.
Reviews
Chris Olson, Uk Film Review
“More like visual poetry than narrative cinema, Chaudhuri has previously proven himself as a filmmaker worth watching for his approach to cinematography in his movies. With White, he couples this flair with meaningful character journeys without much (or any exposition).”
Meredith Taylor, Filmuforia “This is a meditation into three tales. It is a great start in filmmaking with good ideas.”
Rana Pratap Karforma, Cinematographer “White is a brilliant film well visioned and well crafted. One usually doesn’t get to see a film like White everyday. Director Aneek has brilliantly portrayed his vision through his actors, visuals and soundscape (without any dialogue).”
Russell Geofrey Banks, Actor “It is a beautiful piece of work with a nice background”
Saibal Chatterjee, National Award winning Film Critic “I loved the whole experiment and the purpose”
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