Shankar's Fairies(HKAFF 2021)

Documentary filmmaker Irfana Majumdar makes her feature debut with this intricately-woven family tale. Loosely based on her mother’s childhood experiences in the 1960s, and shot in her own ancestral home, this intimate drama focuses on the bond between a young girl in an elite family and the family’s manservant Shankar. Majumdar reveals herself to be a talented storyteller, gently tracing the friendship between the two while simultaneously exploring the exploitation inherent in a class-stricken post-colonial India. Besides her impressive directorial showing, Majumdar makes this a family affair; Majumdar co-stars along with her husband, who plays the family patriarch, while Majumdar’s mother serves as the film’s screenwriter, producer and production designer.