‘Capital I’ is the debut feature film of director – National Award winner Amartya Bhattacharyya and also his first Odia feature film. The film has been produced by critically acclaimed filmmaker – Susant Misra and Swastik Choudhury. Susant Misra also made his acting debut in this film playing one of the lead roles. ‘Capital I’ dealing subtly with the topic of “Lesbianism” is a bold film psychological drama of today’s time. Though the film received many international accolades and has been acclaimed critically in the international circuit, somehow it is yet to reach its intended audience in her hometown of Odisha. The film will start its theatrical journey from INOX Bhubaneswar from October. The tickets for the show are already available online through the website 1018 mb (http://www.1018mb.com/event/177).
‘Capital I’ in few words:
‘Capital I’ is an existential psychodrama revolving around a mysterious and unknown artist and depicting the transformation of mind of a young girl whereby she finds herself trapped in between realistic relationship and attractions and a strange relationship with her hallucinatory lesbian partner.
The national/international journey so far:
- ‘Capital I’ first premiered in 2015 at the 3rd Festival du Film d’Asie du Sud Transgressif, Paris. The festival is also known as South Asian Alternative Film Festival, where the film was in the competition section with five other films that included Naseeruddin Shah’s Zinda Bhaag and Yash Raj banner’s Titli.
- ‘Capital I’ the first independent film of Odisha was then acquired by the Italian World Sales and Distribution company ‘The Open Reel’ for international sales and distribution. They informed that “Capital I is the first Indian feature film that we will be working with. After watching this film we were pleasantly surprised at the different layers of psychological contours that has been well presented”.
- ‘Capital I’ was then acquired by FilmBox ArtHouse – An European TV and Satellite channel, for distribution in North America, parts of Africa and eastern Europe.
- In 2015, ‘Capital I’ was the only Odia film to be officially selected for 20th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). This was the first ever Odia film in the 20 years history of the festival.
- In 2016, ‘Capital I’ was officially selected for 8th Bengaluru International Film Festival.
- In 2014, ‘Capital I’ was the only Odia film to be screened at 13th Chalachitra Utsav, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- ‘Capital I’ was the only Asian Film to be screened at West Florida Film Festival, 2014, USA.
- ‘Capital I’ was the only Odia film to be officially selected for 4th Delhi International Film Festival, 2015.
- ‘Capital I’ was officially selected for International Film Festival of Thrissur, 2015
- ‘Capital I’ was officially screened at the 11th Habitat Film Festival, New Delhi, 2015.
Reviews on ‘Capital I’
- “Capital I is one of those films where every sentence spoken has meaning”….”Seriously, this is a Must Watch, particularly if surrealism is your thing. I think this may be my first Indian film (Bollywood has never quite appealed) but if this is what’s coming out of India right now, I am SO there. “
– By Misty Layne in Rogue Cinema
- “Capital I is stellar a case of a talented writer/filmmaker with a clarity of vision and an ability to communicate that vision to his cast and crew in such a way that the talent involved far transcends the film’s meager budget. The film is visually appealing, narratively involving and thought-provoking, and nicely constructed by cast and crew.”
– By Richard Propes in The Independent Critic
- “10 years from now, this film would be remade and probably then the original would be looked upon. There hasn’t been a cinematic piece in a long time which was driven solely by individualistic expression. “
– By Vivek Poddar in FilmsThatMatter