'Village Rockstars' is India's Official Entry to the Oscars

I n a rare achievement, the highly talented and versatile Assamese filmmaker Rima Das creates history with her tour-de-force, the multi-award winning 'Village Rockstars', which has been selected as India's official entry for Oscars 2019 in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

'"Village Rockstars' truly deserved to be nominated for the Oscars", says jury member Anant Mahadevan. While talking about the selection of the film, Anant Mahadevan, one of the members of the committee, said: "One of the criteria is that the film has to be rooted in India with a universal message. The film has to be professionally and technically well made with hardly any flaws to capture and a well-performed film.

A self-taught filmmaker, Rima Das made 'Village Rockstars', a film that follows the dreams of children in Assam's rural area, with a shoestring budget and a digital camera. The movie, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, is in the Kamrupi dialect. With no professional crew, it took Das four years to complete the film. It has won the 'Golden Lotus' at the 65th National Film Awards and travelled to over 40 countries.

An eminent jury constituted by FFI under the chairmanship of producer Rajendra Singh Babu chose Rima Das's much-feted film from amongst other contenders like 'Raazi', 'Padmaavat', 'Hichki', 'October', 'Love Sonia', 'Gulabjaam', 'Mahanati', 'Pihu', 'Kadvi Hawa', 'Bhogda', 'Revaa', 'Bioscopewala', 'Manto', '102 Not out', 'Padman', 'Bhayanakam', 'Ajji', 'Nude' and 'Gali Guliiyan'.

'Village Rockstars' is the story of a young girl who wants to be a guitarist. In a world where almost every step taken by females is questioned, 10-year-old Dhunu (Bhanita Das), who belongs to a remote village in Assam, wants to make a name for herself in the world of music.

The 91st Academy Awards is scheduled to be held on February 24, 2019.

'Village Rockstars' has been released to wide critical and popular appreciation across India on September 28. "After travelling to many film festivals across the world and winning hearts, I am so delighted that the exciting journey of 'Village Rockstars' has come to its final stage when we prepare with nervous anticipation and hope to present the film to the audiences in our homeland," said Das on the eve of its release in Assam and the rest of the country.