Prateek Vats’ Eeb Allay Ooo!, tracing an unusual story of money repellers is selected in Panaroma Section of Berlin International Film Festival 2020. The film won Facebook Award from the Work-in-Progress Lab, at the Film Bazaar 2018.

Feature film, Eeb Allay Ooo!, that tells the tale of a young migrant who takes up an unusual job of chase off monkeys from government buildings, has reached the Berlin International Film Festival that is slated to be held from 20 February to 1 March this year. The film will be featured as part of the Panaroma section, of the prestigious event. The section showcases films that highlight the urgency for political action and civil disobedience.

The first fiction film of young director Prateek Vats, was admired at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in 2019. The movie bagged The Golden Gateway Award for Best Film in the India Gold category and the Young Critic’s Choice Award at the festival. The film also premiered at the Pingyao International Film Festival in China.

Besides, Prateek’s venture was given the Facebook Award from the Work-in-Progress Lab, at the Film Bazaar event, in 2018.

Eeb Allay Ooo!, a social satire, is set in Delhi and traces the life and challenges faced by monkey repellers, who are hired to capture stray monkeys in the city’s high-security zone which is home to politicians and senior bureaucrats.

The thought-provoking film, where it sees the protagonist mimicking the actions and sounds of the primate in order to fulfil his unusual job, depicts the harsh life of a migrant and subtly reflects today’s social realities.

Talking about the nuances of making a satire like this, Prateek shared how it is very important to add humour in a film like this. “For a satire to work, it is very important for humour to work, so that at some point we can transcend that humour and talk about profound tragedy. For the tragedy to work, the humour becomes more important. So it was very important that the humour worked,” opined Prateek.

A graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India, has directed fiction and non-fiction films that have reached various international film festivals and non-formal spaces. Hiis debut feature documentary, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings that released in 2017, was premiered at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star. It was also awarded the Special Jury Award at the 65th National Film Award.

In addition to making films and teaching, Vats has been involved with Ektara Collective, an independent, autonomous, non-funded group of people make films on contextual realities and experiences, in Madhya Pradesh and another similar group, Collective Phase I, in Kerala.