Assam film among 12 Oscar hopefuls

Filmmaker Kripal Kalitas debut feature film Bridge ,which throws Light on the devastations and hardships that floods bring to Assam villages every year, is among the 12 movies that are currently being viewed by jury members who will finally select the Indian entry to the Oscars.

The 18-member panel has started the selection of the film at a cinema hall in Kolkata, sources said.

Bridge, which bagged the Special Mention award, at the International Film Festival of India in Goa this January, is set in Assam and is a colourful canvas of an unusual struggle of a teenage girl residing along the bank of a tributary of the mighty Brahmaputra. Every year, the Brahmaputra and its tributaries flood many villages and ruin cultivation. Kalita said the films protagonist Jonaki goes through an unusual struggle caused by floods. Her plight gets aggravated by the absence of a bridge over the river.