Continuing their commitment to releasing challenging new arthouse and independent films from India and Southeast Asia, Deaf Crocodile Films and Gratitude Films announce the acquisitions of GAADI – CHILDREN OF THE SUN and BOOMBA RIDE following impressive festival runs for both films. The movies are slated for theatrical release this fall followed by digital release through partner Grasshopper Films for TVOD / SVOD.
From Prasanna Vithanage, one of Sri Lanka's most acclaimed directors, comes GAADI – CHILDREN OF THE SUN, a sweeping historical drama of imperial politics, religion, caste, gender, and impossible love. Set in 1814 during the era of repressive British colonial rule in Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) and the last days of the Kandyan kingdom, GAADI begins with a collaborationist English agent convincing the local Sinhala Buddhist nobility to attempt to overthrow the rival Tamil king. The subsequent military disaster forces a Sinhala noblewoman, Tikiri (Dinara Punchihewa, in her debut role) to choose between suicide and marriage to a low-caste outcast Vijaya (Sri Lankan star Sajitha Anuththara, in an irresistible performance). “Come down from your palace, dear princess – come down to marry the outcast,” chant the mocking villagers as Tikiri is brutally (and literally) stripped of her jewelry and fine clothes. In the vein of Lina Wertmuller's SWEPT AWAY, the two polar opposites are slowly forced to depend on each other for survival in the dense Sri Lankan forests while the political conflict between Tamil and Buddhist Sinhala armies tightens the noose around them. With stunning cinematography by Rajeev Ravi (GANGS OF WASSEYPUR). In Sinhala language with English subtitles.
Says director Prasanna Vithanage, “To bring the story of outcasts of Ceylon to the screen took almost three decades. It was a long journey. I am thrilled to know that finally the film will find its theatrical audience in the US and Canada, thanks to Deaf Crocodile and Gratitude Films.”
BOOMBA RIDE, 2021, India, 76 min. From GOD ON A BALCONY director Biswajeet Bora, BOOMBA RIDE is a scathing comic satire of corruption in India's rural education system – and one 8-year-old boy (newcomer Indrajit Pegu, in a remarkable performance) who knows how to rig the game for himself. Inspired by a true story, the film was shot in the state of Assam on the banks of the Brahmaputra River with a mostly nonprofessional cast. The story revolves around an impoverished school where there is only one (unwilling) student, Boomba. Desperate to keep their jobs and funding, the teachers wind up bribing the hilariously impassive and uncooperative boy to show up to class, while Boomba's secret wish is to attend the better-funded school in town where a slightly older and very pretty girl just happens to be a student. In Assamese language with English subtitles.
“BOOMBA RIDE is a film that is very close to my heart. I was born and brought up in rural Assam. I have witnessed similar kinds of stories out there where the government-run schools have no proper facilities that a school should have,” comments director Biswajeet Bora. “I believe only by growing awareness and taking responsibility for educating our poor and underprivileged classes, can we make a change in a broader way. Making the film wasn't easy as I shot with non-actors and also there were language barriers among us. However, I regard it as one of my best experiences to date because people around the village were very true and innocent, which really touched my heart. The location of the village was as pristine as it is seen and most interestingly we shot in real locations with local people. The protagonist Boomba is equally innocent and it is hard to believe that he hasn't seen a theater hall in his life. I believe people will connect with this seriocomic narrative, which is nothing but a subtle representation of a real-world that actually exists in today's world.”
“We're thrilled to be releasing these two remarkable movies that demonstrate some of the phenomenal range and creativity in Indian and Sri Lankan filmmaking right now,” says Deaf Crocodile Co-Founder and Head of Acquisitions & Distribution Dennis Bartok. “Prasanna Vithanage's GAADI is such a lush and visually stunning portrait of political conflict, caste conflict and the clash of faiths in Sri Lanka's history. Conversely, Biswajeet Bora's BOOMBA RIDE is a film about the smallest of subjects – a rural Indian school with one hilariously uncooperative 8-year-old student – but it's so beautifully observed and acted, with an authenticity that comes from Bora's own Assamese background.”
“There are so many amazing films from around the world that rarely get seen here in the US,” comments Craig Rogers, Deaf Crocodile Co-Founder and Head of Post-Production & Restoration. “Heartfelt, important stories that deserve a wider audience. I'm very proud of our partnership with Gratitude Films and our efforts to broaden people's view of cinema and of the world.”
Deaf Crocodile and Gratitude recently released Indian director Pushpendra Singh's mystical feminist drama THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE SEVEN SONGS (Laila aur satt geet) which opened theatrically at MoMA in NYC for an exclusive 1-week run, followed by Digital release through Grasshopper Films. The film was hailed in Variety as “Abandoning traditional narrative and bringing powerful new meaning to much of what has preceded it, this spellbinding arrangement of image and sound finds Laila entering a mystical dimension where identity and destiny are hers to define and determine.” Deaf Crocodile and Gratitude will soon be releasing first-time Indian director Achal Mishra's luminous, FANNY & ALEXANDER-like portrait of three decades in an extended rural family's life, THE VILLAGE HOUSE (Gamak Ghar).
