Screening of women-directed horror films in Mumbai soon

The third edition of Wench Film Festival, India’s first horror film festival showcasing movies inclusive of BIWOC, LGBTQ+ women and non-binary directors, founded by celebrity hairstylist-turned-filmmaker Sapna Bhavnani, will be held physically from March 17 to March 20 for the first time in Mumbai, in addition to virtual screenings, which will begin on March 10 and continue until March 20.

The award-winning Mexican film ‘Huesera: The Bone Woman’, directed by Michelle Garza Cerver, will be the opening movie and ‘The Nightmare’, directed by Alice Wadding, will be the closing film of the festival.

The festival will screen 23 Indian and international films in competition, including Aarti Kadav’s sci-fi feature, ‘The Astronaut and His Parrot’, starring Ali Fazal and Megha Ramaswami’s acclaimed short ‘Lalanna’s Song’ apart from a special screening of the award-winning cult horror film, ‘Tumbbad’. A bunch of panel discussions with Vishal Furia (‘Chhori’, ‘Lapachhapi’), Vikram Bhatt (‘Ghost’, ‘1920’, ‘Creature’), Anvita Dutt (‘Qala’, ‘Bulbbul’), Gauri Shinde and Kaizad Gustad will also take place.

Sapna Bhavnani, the founder of the Wench Film Festival, said, “In the process of writing my new film, ‘Bearlike Man’, I realised a palpable lack of female representation in the genre of India. Horror comes with just 5.9 percent of directors being women and sci-fi 2.8 percent. I find this statistic offensive. The goal of the Wench Film Festival is to highlight women, but also to promote and celebrate the genre space that has been in our blood since birth.”