Sayani Gupta's Debut Film 'Aasmani' Secures Slots at Five More International Festivals

Aasmani, the first film directed by actor Sayani Gupta, has been accepted for screening at five additional international festivals after already winning awards at a dozen events in just two months. The short has collected honors at iSAFF Vancouver, where Gupta received the Leadership in Film award and the film earned an honourable mention for excellence in short filmmaking. It was named Best Film at the Atlanta Indian Film Festival and won Best Director and Best Child Actor at the Boston festival. In Toronto, the International Film Festival of South Asia selected it officially and granted Gupta the South Asian Screen Excellence Award, coinciding with her birthday and a masterclass she led. Last month the title travelled to nine more festivals, including the DC South Asian, Kerala IDSFFK, Tokyo International Short, Bangalore International Short (India’s Oscar‑qualifying short festival) and Chicago South Asian Film Festival, among others. Upcoming screenings include the 21st Tasveer Film Festival in Seattle (Oct 13‑18), the world’s only Oscar‑qualifying South Asian festival, followed by the 55th Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival (Oct 24‑Nov 1), the 22nd LA Femme International Film Festival in Los Angeles (Oct 22‑25), the 30th Vancouver Asian Film Festival (Nov 5‑14) and the 15th Dharamshala International Film Festival in the Himalayan foothills (Oct 29‑Nov 1). The film has already appeared at BISFF Bangalore, India’s only Oscar‑qualifying short festival.

Context

Oscar‑qualifying festivals allow short films that win specific awards to be considered for Academy Award nomination, giving emerging filmmakers like Gupta a direct route to the Oscars.