Marathi short film Khisa selected for 51st International Film Festival of India

Raj More's Marathi film Khisa (2020) has been selected to compete at the 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which will be held between 16 and 24 January 2021. In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the event will be live-streamed.

Khisa will be screened along with 19 other non-feature films in the Indian Panorama section.

International Film Festival of India's Panorama line-up announced

Apart from Khisa, Marathi films such as Himanshu Singh's Pandhara Chivda (2020) and Onkar Diwadkar's Still Alive will also be screened in the Indian Panorama section. 

The film, which was shot entirely in the Akola district of Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, won the Best Film and Best Screenplay Awards at the Istanbul Film Festival 2020. It was also screened at the 9th Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival in October and the Dharamshala International Film Festival in November. 

Khisa review: Tragic story of loss of innocence reflects harsh reality of polarized times

In an interview with Cinestaan in November, More said, "Despite being based on a serious subject, my film is a light-hearted drama. It was a conscious decision because I wanted to show things from a child's perspective. Although it has a child in the lead, the film is about adults and how they are still caught up in religious fanaticism."