Direction: Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi, Ayra Rothe
Production: Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi, Ayra Rothe
cinematography: Cristina Hanes
Editing: : Yael Bitton, Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi, Ayra Rothe
Sound: Isabella Rinaldi, Santwana Bayaskar
Somi and her husband met and fell in love while fighting alongside the Naxalites, a communist guerrilla group that has been fighting since the 60’s for the rights of the tribal communities of India. After a decade of armed struggle, the couple deserted the movement and surrendered to the police to safeguard their family’s welfare. Ever since, they have been striving to forge a new identity, educate their two children and eventually reconcile their violent past with the fervent desire to integrate into the hostile Indian society.
CRISTINA HANES is a Romanian film director and producer. She co-founded NoCut Film Collective in 2016. Her debut feature length documentary film A Rifle and a Bag (2020, 89 mins, India, Romania, Italy, Qatar) won the Special Mention of the Jury at 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in the Bright Future Competition where it world premiered. Cristina’s short documentary film António e Catarina (2017, 40 mins, Portugal) won the Pardino D’oro Award for Best International Short in Pardi di Domani at 2017 Locarno Festival and was screened in over 25 film festivals around the world. She is an alumna of DocNomads MA and Aristoteles Workshop. She completed her BA in the field of Cinematography in 2013 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
ARYA ROTHE is an independent filmmaker from Pune, India and co-founder of NoCut Film Collective. Her debut feature length documentary film A Rifle and a Bag (2020, 89 mins, India, Romania, Italy, Qatar) won the Special Mention of the Jury at 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in the Bright Future Competition where it world premiered. Her short documentary film Casa da Quina (2015) had its World Premiere at DocLisboa and won the Special Mention Jury Award at the International Film Festival FILMADRID in Spain. Her graduation short film made in Hungary, Daughter’s Mother (2018) had its world premiere at 61st Dok Leipzig Film Festival. She graduated in 2016 from DocNomads Master Course. Before DocNomads, she studied at FAMU – National Film School of Czech Republic.
ISABELLA RINALDI is an independent filmmaker from Rome, Italy and co-founder of NoCut Film Collective. Her debut feature length documentary film A Rifle and a Bag (2020, 89 mins, India, Romania, Italy, Qatar) won the Special Mention of the Jury at 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in the Bright Future Competition where it world premiered. She graduated the DocNomads Master Course after getting her Bachelor Degree in Film Studies at Sapienza University of Rome. She directed and produced several short films, screened in international festivals and a video installation for the MAO Museum of Ljubljana. She is currently directing one episode of the documentary series Borderline produced by Off World production based in Belgium.
