Sudhanshu Saria's Knock Knock Knock wins Gold Remi at WorldFest-Houston

Knock Knock Knock poster

After kickstarting a glorious run for his latest Knock Knock Knock, a psychological thriller, Sudhanshu Saria, (of the critically-acclaimed LOEV) has now won a Gold Remi at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. Past recipients of the award include Ang Lee, Steven Spielberg amongst others. The film was earlier screened at the Busan Film Festival in September.

The plot revolving around a Bengali man who designs crosswords and a Nepalese boy, was the only Indian film to be screened in the non-feature category at Busan.

Talking about it, Sudhanshu said, "Every bit of the film makes me grateful and moves us closer to the next step. The film's unconventional length makes it difficult for it to be slotted. When I received the first call notifying us of the win, I wasn't sure I got it right. Even with Busan, I assumed it was a mistake."

The film is in English, Bengali and Nepali. Evidently, the filmmaker is most excited that the festival win pushes the movie towards a wider release. "With COVID put everything in such an uncertain situation, we honestly don't know what the future holds. But that shouldn't put undue pressure on us either. I wrote the film because the story was dear to me. With each win at an international platform, the film has amassed for itself certain credibility which could then become a potential good sell for OTT platforms."

In a recent chat with mid-day, Prashant Nair, who won at Tribeca, in the Best Screenplay category was quoted saying that he would have rather watched that film with his entire cast and crew at a packed theatre. Sudhanshu laughs and says his aspiration and reaction is a tad different. "The magic of gathering at the movies will stay. But at this point, I am just happy and content. For a film like mine, I am just thankful for that mention and word of honour. It does wonders to our journey. As for the rest, stories told with conviction and love get to their audience eventually." Que sera sera.

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