Indian Women Rising initiative’s first project Bittu has made it to the Live Action Short Film shortlist for the 93rd Academy Awards.
On Wednesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) unveiled the shortlists for nine categories, including Best Live Action Short Film that received a total of 174 entries.
"Bittu" is part of the 10 film shortlist that also includes Da Yie, Feeling Through, The Human Voice, The Kicksled Choir, The Letter Room, The Present, Two Distant Strangers, The Van and White Eye.
The final five nominations for the Oscars will be announced on March 15. This year, the award gala will be held on April 25.
Directed by Karishma Dev Dube, Bittu is based on a true story of two girls and their close friendship (played by Rani Kumari and Renu Kumari) in northern India that is eclipsed by an accidental poisoning at school.
The film is presented by Indian Women Rising (IWR), a cinema collective that was formed by Ekta Kapoor, Kashyap Khurrana, and Guneet Monga in January. The collective is aimed at discovering, nurturing and bringing spotlight on Indian women in cinema across the world. It has been launched with the sole purpose of disrupting the status quo and amplifying the voice of Indian female filmmakers.
Sharing the news with everyone, producer Ekta Kapoor took to her Instagram account and wrote, "Very exciting news but v persevering women I know who working at it! I’m in august company! Way to go team #BITTU N @indianwomenrising #Repost with @fastsave_photo_video credit: @guneetmonga It’s 4.30am in India... am tossing & turning, stress eating and texting my IWR girls thru the night and here we are!!"
Meanwhile, Karishma expressed her gratitude to the team behind by writing “Regardless of what happens next, I’m just so grateful, stunned, proud. Congratulations to the whole team behind Bittu.”
Karishma has previously bagged the prestigious Director’s Guild of America (DGA) Student Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in the Asian American Category for Bittu.
Also read: Ekta Kapoor, Guneet Monga and Tahira Kashyap Launch Cinema Collective Indian Women Rising
(Edited by Anju Narayanan)
