Berlinale Shorts: Ekta Mittal’s ‘Gumnaam Din’ to showcase of pain of separation

By Pickle  January 28, 2020

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Ekta Mittal’s ‘Gumnaam Din’ that is about missing people who left to faraway cities for work will be showcased at the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival 2020. It is produced by India’s Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT)

Indian film talent is set to make a big mark at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival, that will take place from February 20 to March 1, 2020. Besides various sections where Indian films will be leaving their mark, the festival’s line up for the ‘Shorts’ category that celebrates the artistic freedom and variety of short films, includes Indian short film ‘Gumnaam Din’ by Ekta Mittal. It is produced by India’s Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT)

Presenting the sad reality of separation on the celluloid, the film is about missing people who left to faraway cities for work. Guided by Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s birha poetry, Gumnaam Din explores the yearnings of the missing and the pain of the loved ones who wait endlessly, through her film.

Ekta has earlier been associated with similar projects like Absence (Birha, in its original title), her first feature documentary that observed the lives of those affected by the country’s waves of migration. The film grew out of the relationships she formed with migrant workers on an earlier project Behind the Tin Sheets, a series of short films observing the lives of migrant laborers building the metro in Bangalore.

Ekta Mittal, besides making films, is also a co-founder of Maraa, a media and arts collective in Bangalore. She works there as a practitioner, researcher, curator and facilitator around issues of gender, labour and caste in rural and urban contexts, making films around labour, migration and cities.

Besides, Ekta keeps herself busy with creative practices in the public space, through independent production and collaborations with other artists.