Indrasis Acharya ready for ‘Parcel’s festival round, looks beyond virtual screening

Indrasis Acharya’s ‘Parcel’, which released on March 6 and after only a few days run in theatres suffered the COVID-19 strike is now an official selection at the 19^th Dhaka International Film Festival. The director himself took to his Twitter handle to announce the news.
"19th Dhaka International Film Festival" has officially selected The Parcel in their "Cinema of the World Section" with an invitation to their festival in January 2021.It's nice to resume the journey again being shelved almost 5 months,” he wrote.

When we reached out to the director, Indrasis told ETimes they are looking forward to a great response since ‘Parcel’ will be in its festival journey. “Film fests were being organized online recently. So, I didn’t send my film. But next year Dhaka International Film Festival will be organized as it used to be, not virtually. It will be shown in the Cinema of the World section. I am also sending Parcel to few other film fests. Let’s see what happens,” said Indrasis in an exclusive chat with us over the phone.
Many prestigious film fests have taken the virtual route due to the pandemic worldwide. However, the critically acclaimed director believes online events lose the charm. “Films can be watched online anytime now and these virtual events are only for the time being amid the crisis. I think when cine lovers are physically present during screening, the post-screening discussions and live chats with other peers, audience is a different ball game. It has its own charm. When you are organizing a film festival online, it lacks that essence. So, I will prefer film fests to be organized physically,” explains Indrasis.
‘Parcel’, which earned Indrasis the Best Director award (Hiralal Sen Memorial) at the Kolkata International Film Festival last year and also represented 100 years of Bengali cinema in Jogja -NETPAC, is a simple yet beautiful story that is relevant, immersive and one that has a strong connect. Indrasis is someone who wants to go deep inside human emotional crises to explore them the way they are in reality as we have seen in his previous two films ‘Biloo Rakkhosh’ and ‘Pupa’. He loves to narrate human stories which can stir the mind without going emotionally overboard. Parcel has a non-explicit, realistic and open-ended script.
So, is he waiting for a re-release of his film in theatres in the coming months? “We are definitely looking for a theatrical re-release. But it all depends on the situation. When cinema halls reopen it will be really difficult to get halls since there will be so many films lined up. That’s why we are also looking into the OTT option. But nothing has been finalized yet,” said the director who plans to start the shoot of his next ‘Mayabhoy’ in November.