Rhea Shukla’s short film ‘Ruse’ selected for Berlin Film Festival

New Delhi, Feb 3 (PTI) Student filmmaker Rhea Shukla’s short film “Ruse” is set to have its world premiere in the Generation Kplus segment of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival.

The short film, directed by New Delhi-born Shukla, is one of the 15 projects to compete in the category at the gala, scheduled to be held in Berlin from February 13 to February 23.

The 29-year-old filmmaker, who is pursuing a masters degree in fine arts in screenwriting and direction from New York’s Columbia University, said “Ruse” has had an incredible journey.

“I am grateful I found the right collaborators who were young and yet unafraid and took ownership of the scenes in various ways. It comes across rather sublime on celluloid on a humming monsoon afternoon,” Shukla told PTI.

According to its official plotline, “Ruse” follows three adolescent girls who practice a dance on a rainy afternoon.

“The proximity to each other takes on a life of its own, an unarticulated desire, a nuanced portrayal of the silent gazes and unspoken gestures between the girls which comes across acutely on the screen,” it read.

The Generation Kplus section at the gala, also known as Berlinale, is a competition programme which screens “international cinema exploring the worlds of children and teenagers”.

Previously, Shukla also served as a creative producer on “Madhu”, a film that premiered in International Film Festival Rotterdam and Lincoln Center’s MoMA and won a Special Mention Jury Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival.

She also directed the music video “I Wanna Be Like You” for Norwegian music group Ora the Molecule.