In fraught times, city dir’s ‘Immigrants’ gets int’l fim fest Rotterdam grant
Times of India | 27 July 2025
Kolkata: In fraught times, Suman Mukhopadhyay's ‘Immigrants' — set against the backdrop of the 1947 Partition of India and topical in the context of today's identity politics — is the only recipient from India of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)'s Hubert Bals Fund (HBF). The 15 projects, which will receive a grant of €10,000 to support their development, were selected from more than 900 applications.
Author Debesh Roy penned a story named ‘Udbastu'. Mukhopadhyay's project is inspired by that work and is about a displaced family from the 1947 Partition of India struggling to rebuild their lives in a fledgling immigrant colony on the outskirts of Kolkata. When a state inquiry questions their identities, conflicting narratives unravel their past, threatening their existence and tearing at the fabric of their family bonds. "This is a historically rooted drama set against the backdrop of the 1947 Partition of India. Its focus is on the fragility of identity in the face of institutional demands for ‘proof' and the deep scars that forced migration leaves on personal histories," Mukhopadhyay said.
According to the director, ‘Immigrants' was born from a profound sense of disquiet about the lives of those whose stories were never officially recorded, whose names were lost due to bureaucratic lapses, and whose lives were rewritten in the margins of history. "The Partition of 1947, despite its monumental impact, often remains a sanitised topic in cinema — reduced to historical spectacle or political drama. ‘Immigrants' resists this reduction," he added.
Although primarily regarded as a theatre personality, Mukhopadhyay's recent career achievements have been in cinema. His film ‘Putulnacher Itikatha' competed at this year's IFFR. "I have directed nine full-length feature films including ‘Putulnacher Itikatha' (2023), ‘Nazarband' (2020), ‘Asamapta' (2017), and ‘Herbert' (2005), which won the National Award for Best Regional Film that year. It is a misconception that cinema is not my forte. Anyone who looks at my body of work will understand that my films have been to many prestigious festivals around the world," he said.
The filmmaker has also not ignored some attempts to deliberately downplay his achievements in cinema and pigeonhole him only as a theatre personality. "I hope the IFFR selection will make people notice how consistently I have been working in films as much as devoting time to theatre," Mukhopadhyay said.