Punjabi film makes it to Cannes

National award-winning director Gurvinder Singh’s Punjabi film Chauthi Koot (The Fourth Direction) will compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, a sidebar competition that celebrates offbeat and up-and-coming filmmakers.

Chauthi Koot, which does not feature any professional actors, is an Indo-French co-production and is based on Warvan Singh Sandhu’s collection of short stories of the same name.

The film delves into the fears of the Sikh community following Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, the unspeakable brutalities it unleashed and the resistance movement it spawned.

Chauthi Koot was filmed extensively in Amritsar and Ferozepur and the movie’s score has been composed by French musician Marc Marder.

Singh won three National awards for his debut film, Annhey Ghorrey Da Daan (Alms for a Blind Horse), which was the first Punjabi film to be showcased at the Venice Film Festival.