A Bengali film, Kalkokkho (House of Time), directed by National-award winning SRFTI alumni Rajdeep Paul and Sarmistha Maiti has been selected for the main competition of the 26th Busan Film Festival (BIFF), to be held in the South Korean city from October 6-15.

This is also the first feature film that has been produced by Aurora Film Corporation in nearly 45 years.

Kalkokkho explores the pandemic and the related lockdown situation, where social isolation and the longing for belonging have become innate parts.

The Bengali film is one of the 11 selected works in the New Currents section, which has been considered as the entry point for new Asian directors over the last 25 years. Kalkokkho has been nominated for the New Currents Award, the New Currents Audience Award, the NETPAC Award and the FIPRESCI Award.

Another Indian film, Pedro has also been selected in this section.

In the initial few shots, the film looks easily relatable in that it mirrors what many of us had lived through lockdown in 2020. But a few more minutes into the film, and the plot takes completely unpredictable turns.

With a combination of gripping storyline, powerful acting, and high production quality, the film creates a world which is illusionary yet real, emotional yet frightening, disturbing yet soothing.

The 124-minute long film makes one find something new, something unexplored in the plot and its characters as it progresses.

One of the directors, Rajdeep Paul, has said that the protagonist of the story, a doctor, presents himself as a metaphor for the urge to cling on to a saviour.