National Film Award-winning director Rima Das’s Bulbul Can Sing will be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (September 6-16). The Assamese film will be showcased in the Discovery section.
Das made her debut in 2016 with Antardrishti, which was premiered at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. Village Rockstars (2017) centres on a 10-year-old girl (Bhanita Das), who cherishes a dream of owning a guitar even as she battles with several adverse circumstances. The independent feature was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017 in the Discovery section. Back home, Village Rockstars won four National Film Awards: Best Feature Film, Best Child Artist, Best Location Sound Recording and Best Editing. The movie hasn’t been released in India yet.
Bulbul Can Sing, according to its official synopsis, is a “visceral coming-of-age drama about a teenage girl, Bulbul, living in a village in Assam, fighting her way through love and loss as she figures out who she really is”.
Das said in a statement, “It’s a huge honour to return to TIFF after Village Rockstars... It’s like homecoming for me.”