
EK THA GAON / ONCE UPON A VILLAGE - BITCHITRA COLLECTIVE
THE GOLDEN LOTUS and BEST AUDIOGRAPHY - 69th National Awards (India) | JOHN ABRAHAM AWARD - Federation of Film Societies of India Rural to Urban Migration • Women's Stories • Climate Change • Himalayas • Anthropology Date of Completion: 2021 | Run Time: 61 minutes | Language: Garhwali with English subtitles | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director: Srishti Lakhera | Producers: Srishti Lakhera & Bhamati Sivapalan | Editor: Bhamati Sivapalan | Cinematographers: Amith Surendran & Kai Tillman “Villagers have a saying that the dead come back to visit the living. Now those of us who remain have only these ghosts for company.” Semla is a ghost village in the Himalayan foothills. The 50 families that once lived in the village, have migrated to the city, leaving behind 7 people. With this migration, livelihood connected to the terrain and seasons have slowly faded. Like her village, Leela is old, resilient and forgotten. Despite loneliness and struggles with an aging body