It is an extraordinary success story of 32-year-old Anushi Sharma, a gifted writer and artist from the obscure and backward village of Dravil in Shillai of Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district who carved
her path to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival which was neither smooth nor predictable. It was a hazardous, struggle-ridden journey marked by isolation, hardship and relentless determination — a journey that ultimately culminated in her film Khoonta securing an entry for screening into Cannes, the world’s most celebrated international film festival.
Speaking to this writer from Cannes after the screening of film, Mukesh Modi, New York-based Indian-American producer, said, “The response was tremendous and the audience turnout of producers and directors from the USA and France was bigger than for many other films screened here, my decision to venture into an innovative cinematic idea stemmed from a desire to support independent filmmakers who face enormous hurdles in their careers — struggles that I myself experienced. I eventually overcame those barriers in 2015 when my first film was shot in America.”
