Bhubaneswar: A film on the devastation wreaked in Odisha by Cyclone Fani is now all set to be screened at the 25th Festival of India at Charlotte in the US. The film is named ‘Mercy of God’.
The festival has only three films including ‘Mercy of God’. The festival to be held on October 12 and 13 is not restricted just to films but has a variety of other cultural events. As per the official website, the festival will draw around 20,000 visitors from Charlotte and surrounding areas.
The film ‘Mercy of God’ was conceptualised, shot, edited and directed by Amartya Bhattacharyya. He shot the film alone with no cast or crew. It features the cyclone-affected villagers in their natural settings.
The film has no dialogues and has some haunting music by Kisaloy Roy, who has been scoring music for all recent films of Amartya. The film covers several areas in and around Puri district, which were severely affected by the cyclone.
Amartya said, “This was an unplanned film. I travelled with volunteers to interior villages where the situation was unbelievably tragic. I do not like to capture human suffering, but I did capture some shots to document the reality. We thought the unseen pictures of reality must be shown to the world. Realising the sensitivity of the situation, I did not put a single word in the film. Usually my films are heavily worded, but in this film silence does the speaking.”
