Award winning film maker Shilpa Krishnan Shukla’s latest films “The Reading” and “Polar Bears” are to be screened in Singapore in January 2023. Shilpa has written, directed, shot and edited both the films. “The Reading” features actors Balaraman Kunduvara, Gayathri Gopal, Bipin Balakrishnan, Shalmalee Vaidya and Rachita Arke, while “Polar Bears” features Eka Shukla, Prem Menon and Bipin Balakrishnan in leading roles.
“Polar Bears”, a short film that looks at environmental issues from a young girl’s point of view, has been an official selection at several international film festivals including International Film Festival of Shimla [IFFS], Chicago South Asian Film Festival, Ahmedabad International Children’s Film Festival, Dytiatko Children’s Film Festival of Ukraine and International Festival of Image of Nature in Portugal, to name a few. Besides picking up the Special Jury award at IFFS organized by Departments of Language & Culture, and of Tourism & Civil Aviation of the Government of Himachal Pradesh, the film has picked up several Best Child Actor and Best Film awards across multiple festivals.
“The Reading”, a comedy featuring the reading session of two actors with their new director over the course of the day, features an original song written, composed and arranged by Ravi Gopinath and performed by Bipin Balakrishnan. Bipin and Ravi are part of the popular Singapore band Brothel Street.
Both films were shot during the circuit breakers in 2021 and early 2022 with limited crew – with on location sound recordist Uma Kalyani and Assistant Director Archana Pradeep. Music for both films were composed by Vineeth Paul and post production was completed at Liberty Film Company in Mumbai. The films are produced by Shivanu Shukla under the banner of Black Dabba Productions.
Shilpa Krishnan Shukla, a full time marketing director at a multinational pharma company, has made several award winning films in the past, all of which she has written and directed herself. Her 2018 feature Tashi bagged a NETPAC nomination at the Bengaluru International Film Festival and her 2019 film “Kathaah@8” – the world’ first anthology in 8 different languages written, directed and produced by a single person, was an official selection at the World Cinema section of the FIAPF accredited International Film Festival of Kerala [IFFK].
Apart from these, Shilpa’s films such as DOTS, Smrisha and Pularum Iniyum Naalekal have traveled widely to film festivals including the prestigious Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, UK Asian Film Festival, Dhaka International Film Festival, Indian Film Festival of Boston, Singapore South Asian International Film Festival, Third Eye Asian Film Festival, to name a few. Her films have picked up several Best Film awards, as well as awards for Best Story, Screenplay, Direction, Editing, Cinematography, Music as well as Acting.
In 2021, Shilpa was chosen as the Global Winner by India’s biggest OTT platform Zee5, at their Global Content festival. Her films DOTS, KATHAAH@8 and TASHI, are now available on the OTT platform globally.
The films will be screened at The Projector (Golden Mile Tower), on the 12th and 19th of January at 7:30pm. Tickets for the 12th are sold out while few tickets are available for the 19th at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/individual8/820113
The two films together have a running time of 90 minutes and are both rated PG.
