Bilal

  • Sourav Sarangi
  • India, Finland
  • 2008
  • 92 min
  • World Premiere
  • India - East Side Stories
Bilal is three years old. He lives with his parents, his grandmother and his one-and-a-half-year-old brother in a poor neighbourhood of Calcutta. Their house is no more than a room where they all eat, sleep and spend their free time. Bilal is still little but he plays an important role in the household. This is because his father and mother are both blind. His parents perform their difficult duties miraculously well. They know where their children are from hearing and put them in line when they misbehave. Bilal knows to make himself scarce when he has been up to no good, but he's also very helpful despite his young age. He puts his mother's hand on the spot that needs cleaning and aptly leads his father through the busy city traffic. Filmmaker Sourav Sarangi followed Bilal's daily life over the course of a year. The film became an intimate glimpse into the world of a child who lives in two worlds: that of the blind and that of those who can see.

Credits

  • 92 min
  • color
  • video
  • Spoken languages: Bengali, Hindi
  • Subtitles in: English
Director
Sourav Sarangi
Co-director
Somdev Chatterjee
Production
Sourav Sarangi for Son et Lumiere (IN), Kristiina Pervilä for Millennium Film Oy
Cinematography
Sourav Sarangi, Somdev Chatterjee
Editing
Sourav Sarangi

IDFA history

2008
World Premiere
India - East Side Stories
2005
Supported with €10000 for Classic: Production & postproduction

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IDFA history

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