Rima Das’ ‘Not A Hero’ among six Indian films selected for Busan International Film Festival

Assamese filmmaker Rima Das’ Not A Hero is among six Indian films selected for the 31st Busan International Film Festival, which will be held in South Korea from October 6 to 15.

Das, known for films such as Village Rockstars, Bulbul Can Sing and Tora's Husband, is returning to Busan with Not A Hero after Village Rockstars 2 premiered at the festival and won the Kim Jiseok Award.

The coming-of-age drama follows an 11-year-old boy who is sent from the city to live in a village.

The film will screen in ‘A Window on Asian Cinema’, the festival's prominent non-competitive section showcasing new and notable works by filmmakers from across Asia.

Das said she was looking forward to sharing the film with Busan audiences and engaging with filmmakers from across the region.

"I have a long association with the Busan International Film Festival, and I’ve always valued the space it creates for Asian cinema, a place where stories rooted in very different cultures and realities can find a wider conversation," she said in a statement.

“Not a Hero comes from that same impulse. It is a deeply local and intimate story about childhood, freedom and the boundless imagination of an 11-year-old boy,” Das said.

She added that the film explores, through the child's perspective, the small worlds children create for themselves and the tension between their freedom to imagine and the realities imposed by the adult world.

The other five Indian films selected in the section are Anuparna Roy's Lovers in the Blue Night, Leo Thaddeus' Malayalam feature Chevittorma (The Soul Whisperer), Vishwendra Singh's Khoriya, Sahil Shah's Birds on Ice and Sandeep Kumar Paul's About an Intimate Matter.

Roy, who became the first Indian filmmaker to win the Best Director award at the Venice Film Festival for her debut feature Songs of Forgotten Trees, will return to the international festival circuit with Lovers in the Blue Night. The film has also been selected for Venice.

Roy will additionally serve on the shorts jury at Busan.

“Having an Asian Premiere in Busan feels incredibly special to me,” Roy said, adding that returning to the festival as a jury member was an honour.

Thaddeus' The Soul Whisperer, starring Dileesh Pothan and Pauly Valsan, will also screen in the section.

Pothan, who co-produced Kumbalangi Nights and directed Joji, said he was drawn to Thaddeus' sensitivity in approaching the story and his willingness to let silence, stillness and performances speak for themselves.

Thaddeus said making the film was an attempt to move away from the pace and conventions of mainstream cinema and explore a more intimate and patient form of storytelling.

Khoriya, a Nepali and Hindi-language drama, follows two Nepali half-brothers running a poultry farm on the outskirts of Delhi NCR during a sudden bird flu outbreak.

The film, produced by Niharika Singh, Faraz Khan and Prayas Deepti, won the post-production grant at the NFDC Waves Film Bazaar 2025 Work in Progress Lab. Ashim Ahluwalia serves as its executive producer.

Busan has also selected Sailesh Rathnakumar's Selvi and Shashank Walia's Birds in the Dark in the Vision Asia category.

Selvi, produced by and starring actor Anjali Patil, will screen alongside Birds in the Dark, produced by Hansal Mehta and co-produced by Sahil Saigal, Reema Kaur, Mauli Singh and Gagan Deep Kaur. Mauli Singh also stars in the Punjabi-language film, titled Hanere de Panchi.

Promita Dhar's Salt Electric has been selected for the Wide Angle: Asian Short Film Competition.

The 31st Busan International Film Festival will be held at the Busan Cinema Center in Busan from October 6 to 15.