Official Selection - Competition 2017 / Ralang Road / India 2017
The stories of four individuals intertwine in a maze of Himalayan countryside, village buildings, and the local social microcosm. With a captivating internal rhythm and the stylistic elements taken firmly in hand, the film presents a narratively courageous look at the region’s social web and the influence of cultural immigration on local life.
Set in a small hill town amid the Himalayan region of Sikkim, the story features four individuals who are interwoven in a labyrinth of local landscape, village buildings, and the social microcosm. Teacher, who comes to the region to solve pressing emotional problems, apparently has nothing much in common with the villagers, but, however improbable, fate gradually builds pathways that lead to an encounter with two local guys trying to kill time while wandering the streets; the fourth character is the ever-taciturn owner of a billiard club. Various coincidences place them at the center of an initially unimaginable series of events. With a captivating internal rhythm and the stylistic elements taken firmly in hand, this directorial debut builds on work with nonpro actors and the special spirit of India’s tiny northeast state. Artistically speaking, this highly original and refreshing movie presents a narratively courageous look into the social web of the region and at the influence of pervasive cultural immigration on local life.
Hubert Poul
112 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Karma Takapa
/ Screenplay Karma Takapa
/ Dir. of Photography Sonu
/ Music Christopher Burchell
/ Editor Anadi Athaley
/ Art Director Roushan Kumar
/ Producer Heer Ganjwala
/ Production HumanTrail Pictures LLP
/ Cast Shubham, Sonam Wangyal Ladimpa, Domber Mani Pradhan, Sudan Gurung
/ Contact HumanTrail Pictures LLP
Karma Takapa (b. Sikkim state, India) graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and in journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi. He is the creator of shorts and docs that experiment with narrative approaches and investigate a variety of locations (including his hometown in Sikkim). His two short features Ordinary Times (Thutse Kyuma, 2013) and No Where Here (Yahin Kahin Nahin, 2014) were selected for the program of the Goa IFF, the first of these winning a Special Jury Prize at the SiGNS film fest. He and two other directors wrote and directed the feature-length story showcase An Illusion of My Mind (Mor Mann Ke Bharam, 2015), awarded a Special Jury Prize two years ago at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Ralang Road is his first independently directed picture.
HumanTrail Pictures LLP
33, Vaibhav, 400016, Mumbai
India
E-mail: [email protected]
Karma Takapa
Film Director
Anadi Athaley
Producer
Heer Ganjwala
Producer
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