COCOON

About the film

It was in late March and early April in 2020. A time for heatwaves, untimely rains and songs of the koyel. Ice creams and siestas. As the dust of the impending pandemic rose to the sky. And the darkness of fear and confusion grew. We saw them standing in our balconies. Millions walking the hardest road towards a cocoon. A film shot entirely at home during the first lockdown.

Filmmaker's Statement

Without any choice I found myself stranded at my parent’s home leaving behind what I was doing and planning. As soon as the first announcement was made instructing people to clap and bang utensils, I decided to shoot the times we were leading into. It was too early to know where this all would eventually go but I shot the happenings inside the home and what I could see through the balcony. On an interpersonal level, this was the potent time. . .people forced to live together, confront, negotiate and find balance. Socially, the absurdity was not only stemming from suddenly finding oneself in the midst of the unknown but also from the impudent measures taken by the government. The masses were kept hanging waiting for Godot while the authorities kept them engaged in high sounding, dogmatic, rhetoric and spectacular symbolic tasks.

About the director

After completing her M.Phil. in English from the Central University of Hyderabad, Kshama joined The Film and Television Institute of India in 2011 as a student of Film Editing. She has been working as an independent writer, editor, cameraman and director since 2014. She has edited both documentaries and fiction films and has directed, shot and edited two documentary films, The Strike and I (2018) and Cocoon (2020). Her films have been selected and screened in various national film festivals and online screenings.