Village Rockstars out of Oscars 2019 race, Period End of Sentence still in contention

India’s Village Rockstars had won the top honour in the country. At the National Film Awards 2018, the film won Best Feature Film, Best Child Artist, Best Location Sound Recordist and Best Editing.

After selecting Village Rockstars as India’s entry to the Oscars, Film Federation of India’s SV Rajendra Singh Babu had spoken about the reason as to why India films don’t do well at the Oscars. He had then said, “Many Indian films reach there but because of their rules and perspectives, our films are not eligible. The film which is selected from here should be properly presented at the Oscars, and that needs huge money. When a film goes there, we need at least two crore rupees to promote the film there, to present it to the Academy members. There are many processes, and we may be failing there. There is an acute lack of funds to carry out these processes effectively.”

Also Read | Village Rockstars movie review: A beautifully told coming-of-age-story

The Indian Express critic Shubhra Gupta had written in her review of Village Rockstars, “As a coming-of-age-story alone, Village Rockstars is a beauty. As a one-woman-enterprise, the film is a marvel. Das has single-handedly created this film: written, filmed, directed, produced and edited it.”

Menawhile, a film about women in India fighting against the stigma of menstruation, Period. End of Sentence, has been shortlisted by the Academy in the Documentary Short Subject category. The film has been co-produced by Gunnet Monga’s Sikhya Entertainment. Sharing her excitement, she posted on Instagram, “Waking up to this shortlist!! So proud and soo exciting. Watch out for “Period. End of Sentence” our short documentary directed by @raykaz shot by @samdavisdp produced by school girls of Oakwood , Melissa Burton , @lisataback , Garrett. I am so humbled to be a part of the producing team. Executive Produced by me and a @sikhya co-production ❤️ thank you @stacey_sher for bringing me on board ❤️”

The film, Period. End of Sentence, has been shortlisted among ten films that have been nominated in the Documentary Short Subject category for the 91st Academy Awards. 104 films from all over the world had qualified in the category.