New Delhi, Bhargav Saikia's directorial debut feature "Bokshi", a folk horror fantasy shot in the deep forests of Sikkim in Northeast India, will have its world premiere at the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025. The film is selected in the Harbour section which is named after Rotterdam’s port city identity and focuses on a wide range of contemporary cinema from across the world. The festival will be held from January 30 to February 9, next year.
Starring Mansi Multani of "Pari" fame and "Farrey" actor Prasanna Bisht, the film is in Hindi, English, Nepali and an invented language Boksirit, a fully developed fictional language spoken by a few characters in the film. This invented language, presented as the progenitor of all modern languages, has been exclusively created for "Bokshi" by renowned Dutch linguist, Jan van Steenbergen, the director said. Written by debutant screenwriter Harsh Vaibhav, the film explores the journey of a troubled teen, who goes on a high school expedition to a little-known prehistoric site and finds herself tested as a long-forgotten myth unfurls.
Bhargav earlier adapted Ruskin Bond's "The Black Cat" for a short, which starred late Tom Alter and Shernaz Patel. “IFFR, which is renowned as a discovery festival and for their edgy programming, is just the ideal place to launch my debut feature, 'Bokshi' . It is an ambitious independent production and an adventurous genre film that took nearly five years to complete.
I am grateful .