Reema Maya’s internationally acclaimed short about child abuse had its World premiere at Sundance Film Festival this year; it has won 34 odd awards so far
A short film, Nocturnal Burger, by award-winning filmmaker Reema Maya (formerly Reema Sengupta) is now in consideration for Best Live Action Short Film at the 96th Academy Awards. The 28-minute film, a story of child abuse told through unreliable narrators, is set in a dysfunctional police station in Mumbai, where a 13-year-old girl and a man in his thirties are brought in the middle of the night by two strangers. A frustrated female constable investigates what happened that night, and what could’ve happened. Somewhere between fantasy, trauma, paranoia, precaution, and the promise of a burger, Maya peels the layers off the abuse.
A CATNIP film presented by XRM Media and produced by Reema Maya and Michael Y Chow, it stars Bebo Madiwal, Millo Sunka, Trupti Khamkar, Shrikant Mohan Yadav (Lust Stories 2), Pushpendra Singh, Somnath Mondal, Vicky Shinde and Mukesh Pachode. The short made its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and later travelled to over 50 odd film festivals across the world. It won 34 awards, including the Oscar-qualifying Golden Chair Award for Best International Short at KortfilmFestivalen, Norway; Best International Short Special Mention at Palm Springs International Shortfest, USA; Best International Short at Seminci Valladolid Film Festival, Spain; and Film Critics Guild Gender Sensitivity Award at Dharamshala International Film Festival.
‘A coming-of-age film in the darkest sense’
Maya, the writer-director of the film, who has also directed and produced music videos for reputed artists such as Prateek Kuhad, Ritviz and Divine, said in a release to the media: “The Oscars were a big distant dream. It’s blowing my mind that we’re actually in consideration. What’s important to us is that being a contender for the Academy Awards gives us the ability to represent India and have important conversations on Nocturnal Burger at the biggest stage. We need our communities to really show up and support us so we can be heard louder.”
A still from Nocturnal Burger
Known for her socially relevant independent work and eclectic commercial work, Maya underlines in her director’s note: “Nocturnal Burger a coming-of-age film in the darkest sense. We all remember our teenage moments of wanting to grow up too fast and the moment we understood for the first time what growing up actually feels like. It is in the transition between these two moments that the story of Nocturnal Burger takes place on a rainy night in Mumbai.”
The journey of the film, she writes, started from a very unfortunate true incident a few years ago: “Everything that happened that night stayed deep inside me, and Nocturnal Burger is the first outlet it has had. It is an exploration of abuse and trauma; fantasy and escapism. It talks about the omnipresence of sexual abuse even in our public spaces, and the need for vigilance and intervention by the community.”
Stories inspired from real life
Maya worked with a mix of non-actors and regional actors from various parts of the country and shot in real locations. “On set we could feel the personal emotional investment of the team because the incidents we were addressing in the film were something most of us had encountered growing up,” she writes. The nominees for the 96th Academy Awards will be announced on January 23, 2024, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The winners will be announced during the awards ceremony on March 10, 2024.
Maya’s last short film Counterfeit Kunkoo — the story of Smita trying to find a house to rent in Mumbai, as a woman without a husband — had its World Premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film festival as the only short film from India at the festival and the first Indian fiction short to be selected there in 16 years. It has since been selected at 120+ international film festivals and won 40 awards. It was also showcased in Sundance 2022 as part of their 40th Anniversary programme. The film was also featured on Criterion, MUBI, Nowness and was awarded Vimeo Staff Pick (Best of Month).
Michael Y Chow, producer of the film, said, “Nocturnal Burger deserves all the recognition it is getting. It is an important film with an important voice. We’re so proud of it.” Sue Turley, Executive producer of the film, said, “I knew the moment that I was introduced to Reema that she was an incredibly talented storyteller. We are honoured to be working with her.”
