Indian Folk Horror ‘Bokshi’ Lands at Alief Ahead of Rotterdam Premiere, Clip Unveiled (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran French-U.K. outfit Alief has acquired international sales rights to Indian filmmaker Bhargav Saikia’s supernatural folk horror “Bokshi,” ahead of its world premiere in International Film Festival Rotterdam‘s Harbour section.

The film follows Anahita, a troubled teen who finds solace in Shalini, a mysterious history teacher leading a trek to an ancient site called ‘The Navel.’ The school excursion takes an eerie turn as connections emerge between the site and a cult worshipping Bokshi, a feared folkloric demoness. “Bokshi,” which means “witch” in Nepali, represents a departure from India’s recent horror-comedy trend, instead offering a darker, more atmospheric take on the genre. “At its core, it is a cautionary tale that sheds light on universal and socially relevant themes of women empowerment and humanity’s relation with Mother Earth,” Saikia tells Variety. “The film attempts to subvert the negative idea of the witch prevalent in society and presents it as a symbol of empowerment of the female.” Shot over 80 days across remote Himalayan locations during the height of winter, the ambitious independent production faced numerous logistical challenges. “Major portions of the film were shot in dense forests of the Eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim during peak winter,” says Saikia. “We had a crew of more than a hundred people on the film’s set.

I was adamant on shooting entirely in real locations and using every technical resource that we could afford to make the film authentic.” The film features dialogue in Hindi, English, Nepali and Boksirit – a constructed language developed specifically for the film by Dutch linguist Jan van Steenbergen.