{"id":291003,"date":"2025-04-26T14:49:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T14:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/26\/from-kolkata-to-cannes-kolkata-based-student-film-a-doll-made-of-clay-gets-international-nod\/"},"modified":"2025-04-26T14:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T14:49:09","slug":"from-kolkata-to-cannes-kolkata-based-student-film-a-doll-made-of-clay-gets-international-nod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/26\/from-kolkata-to-cannes-kolkata-based-student-film-a-doll-made-of-clay-gets-international-nod\/","title":{"rendered":"From Kolkata To Cannes: Kolkata-Based Student Film A Doll Made Of Clay Gets International Nod"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A short film by SRFTI students is set for Cannes 2025 selection.<\/p>\n

Titled “A Doll Made Up of Clay,” it features a Nigerian footballer.<\/p>\n

The film was directed by Ethiopian student Kokob Gebrehweria Tesfay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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New Delhi: <\/b><\/p>\n

A short film, made by students of Kolkata’s Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), is making waves internationally \u2013 it is headed to the 78th Festival de Cannes 2025.<\/p>\n

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The film, titled A Doll Made Up of Clay<\/em>, has been selected<\/a> for the prestigious La Cinef section, which showcases works by film school students from around the world.<\/p>\n

A Doll Made Up of Clay<\/em> features a 23-year-old Nigerian footballer, Ahmed, who originally came to play seven-a-side games in the city \u2013 and somehow ended up in front of the camera as an actor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The movie has been written and directed by Kokob Gebrehweria Tesfay, an Ethiopian student<\/a> at SRFTI and produced by Sahil Manoj Ingle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Executive Producer Uma Kumari said, “Coming from Rewari, a small town in Haryana, and now getting the opportunity to represent India on a global platform like Cannes feels like a dream. As a female Executive Producer, it’s a proud moment \u2014 not just for me, but for every young dreamers from places where cinema isn’t often seen as a career. Carrying the spirit of Haryana, and India with me, I’m excited to step onto the world stage and show that no dream is too far when you believe in it.”<\/p>\n

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A Doll Made Up of Clay<\/em> was made under the institute’s zero-budget programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cSRFTI provides us with the shooting location and the studios. I had to mobilise resources from within or outside the institute. That is the real challenge that we had to learn. It is a huge honour that the film made in this manner will be screened at Cannes,\u201d shared producer Sahil Manoj Ingle, as quoted by the Times Of India.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Kokob, who hails from Zalmbessa in Ethiopia’s Tigray region<\/a>, studied theatrical arts at Addis Ababa University before coming to India on a scholarship from the Indian Council of Cultural Research. He enrolled in SRFTI’s direction and screenplay writing course and brought his documentary experience to this fictional project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI made a documentary on African footballers in Kolkata. As an African filmmaker, this story is very close to my heart. The film is inspired by the real-life experiences of these young men\u2014a story of hope, identity, transformation, and survival. I had the privilege of being mentored by Putul Mahmood, Mehdi Jaan, and Siladitya Sanyal throughout this project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The lead role is played by Ahmed, a non-professional actor from the Yoruba ethnic group in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany African players come to Kolkata to play the seven-side or five-side games. We earn per match and that is what brings us here. I acted in primary school plays but never faced the camera before. When asked to act, I just played myself in front of the camera,\u201d Ahmed shared.<\/p>\n

A Doll Made Up of Clay<\/em>\u00a0has a mix of Yoruba and Bengali languages and dives deep into the life of a young Nigerian player who sells his father’s land to chase a football dream in India \u2014 only to have that dream crushed by a serious injury. Heartbroken and lost, he turns to his roots and ancestral rituals to heal and rediscover himself.<\/p>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quick Take Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed. A short film by SRFTI students is set for Cannes 2025 selection. Titled “A Doll Made Up of Clay,” it features a Nigerian footballer. The film was directed by Ethiopian student Kokob Gebrehweria Tesfay. New Delhi: A short film, made by students of Kolkata’s Satyajit Ray Film […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2025-04\/9dr5i3do_a-doll-made-up-of-clay_625x300_26_April_25.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[619],"tags":[226357,29229,12176,109655,1847,616,27,325,226359,3057,226358,2069],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291005,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291003\/revisions\/291005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}