Helmed by Rajdeep Paul and Sarmistha Maiti, the Bengali film Kalkokkho (House of Time) is selected for its world premiere at the prestigious 26th Busan International Film Festival. The film, which is the maiden feature film of the two Satyajit Ray Film Television Institute graduates, will premiere on October 9. Kalkokkho has been selected for the New Currents (the main competitive section) of the international festival. The Busan International Film Festival will begin on October 6 with a socially distanced opening ceremony and go on till October 15.

As told to the PTI, the director duo is ‘overwhelmed’ with the excellent critical reception of their debut feature and in making it to the prestigious international film festival. Paul further told that Kalkokkho plays on the concept of time with ‘magic realism and existential horror to explore eternal themes like reality and illusion, instinct and morality, love, loneliness and grief.’ Maity filled in, saying that the film competing at the international film festivals is an ‘honour’ and ‘exhilarating', given that it was shot amid the COVID-19 situation.

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The film, which has a contagious pandemic as its backdrop, is about a doctor who is taken hostage by a young woman in a desperate attempt to ensure the safety of her family's health. The doctor is kept captive in an almost desolate house inhabited by three women of three ages – the paranoid young woman, an amnesic old woman, and a lonely young girl.

Aurora Film Corporation, which has distributed and produced many Satyajit Ray classics along with a Ritwik Ghatak film and some classic Bengali films, has produced the film.

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Kalpokkho is drawn from a story by the directors themselves and has new actors Janardan Ghosh, Sreelekha Mukherjee and Tannistha Biswas.

Kalkokkho will also open the 7th Caleidoscope Indian Film festival in Boston on October 22. It has also made it through to the competition category of the 20th Dhaka International Film Festival, in the ‘Cinema of the World’ section.