Asian Cinema Fund

ACF Asian Cinema Fund

Script Development Fund

2017 Script Development Fund

LIST The Fog Catchers

Category	Asian Project
Project	The Fog Catchers
Director	Balaka GHOSH
Country	India
Director's Profile	Balaka GHOSH has been making documentary films for 20 years, and has received several national awards as well as international acclaim. Her film The Vehicle with the soul of a Man (2000) screened at 40 international film festivals including Cannes, Cinema du Réel, Tampere, Uppsala, Munich, Berlin, San Francisco, Bilbao, etc. She had done several projects funded by the IDFA Bertha Fund, Bnaff Mountain Culture, and Indian TV & Governments. Her film Red Fairy n The Holy Ghost was funded by IDFA Bertha Fund and was an official selection of IDFA 2011. Her last two documentary films were co-produced by NHK-Japan & BIFF-AND South Korea. Her fiction script was selected by APSA-Australia and is being developed by stalwarts of Hollywood and world cinema in Australia.

Synopsis: Alhadin, 10 years old, catches fog but it always melts into water. In the quest, he encounters a unique insect, coming out of its egg. He’s a reluctant trainee terrorist. He’s a bad trainee, his mind wandering. He saves a worm with AK47 nozzle. But torture and violence don’t change him. So he’s sent to cook or fetch water. Ali, 10 years old, lives in a small mountain town. The sole bread earner fends for his overworked mother and sick sister. He collects teargas shells thrown by the police on protesters and sells the metal as scrap. Life hardened him when his father vanished one day. Here, men go missing, picked up by authorities, and suspected as terrorists. Ali’s mother is a “half widow” who protests and gets pelted by teargas. While his mother contorts in pain, Ali risks his life collecting shells. He pines for a good pair of shoes. When they meet at the river across a barrier of fog, they get curious from a distance. That day marks a destiny entwining them in a bizarre silent relationship journeying towards a shocking disastrous end.

Director's Note: I met Ali while shooting my documentary in terror-torn mountains. I have met children like Alhadin in riot-torn hells in my country. Researching extensively on terror, this story is woven on my close encounters with terror and real characters and situations. What I felt tortured about is the innocent children caught in the lines of fire.

Loss of innocence in children is a major concern in today’s world. Through the two child protagonists we explore that sense of loss and innocence in different perspectives, and how basic human tenets preserve and express oneself even in the time of chaos, turmoil and violence.
The surrounding terror-torn world is compelling me to tell this story now. Though this will be shot in India with a distinct flavor of the land in its music, twang, and culture, yet, it is universal, where people anywhere can identify and empathise with the characters and emotions. This story needs to be told now.

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