| TITLE OF THE FILM | Bonobibi, The Woman Of The Forest |
| DIRECTED BY | Joy Banerjee, Annu Jalais |
| LANGUAGE | Bengali, English, French (English subtitles) |
| YEAR | 2024 |
| COUNTRY | India |
| DURATION | 28 minutes |
| SPECIAL NOTE | International Premiere |
PRINCIPAL CREW & CAST
| WRITING | Joy Banerjee, Annu Jalais |
| CINEMATOGRAPHY, EDITING & SOUND | Joy Banerjee, Thierry Kovoor |
| MUSIC | Amit Mukherjee |
ABOUT THE FILM
Bonobibi is a “superpower” who protects fisherfolk who live near the Sundarban forest from attacks by tigers. In the company of anthropologist Annu Jalais, we set off to meet Lilabati the nurse, Mohonlal the tiger-charmer and Suranjan the sculptor, to hear their experiences of living alongside tigers. Interspersed with patua scroll paintings, the film recounts the story of Ma Bonobibi, and the understanding she is believed to establish between the tiger-demon Dokkhin Rai and the young human Dukhe. The film also explores how reverence for Bonobibi transcends the narrow sectarian divisions of Hinduism and Islam in an increasingly divided world.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Joy Banerjee is a freelance documentary filmmaker. His previous works include ‘Bengal Shadows’ on the 1943 Bengal famine, ‘The Game’ on Bangladeshi migrants in Europe, ‘Histoires d’Engagisme’ on Indian indentured labourers in the Reunion Island, and ‘Red Bengal’ on Communism in West Bengal.
Annu Jalais is an environmental anthropologist working on the human–animal interface, environmental justice, religious identity and migration in Bengal, based at Krea University. She authored ‘Forest of Tigers’ (2010), co-authored ‘The Bengal Diaspora’ (2016), and recently co-developed thesoutherncollective.org and asianbestiary.org.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
“Bonobibi’s story is a modern fable inspiring harmony between species as well as between different communities. Annu first went to the Sundarbans inspired by stories about Bonobibi, shape-shifting tigers and powerful tiger-charmers, and met Lilabati, Mohonlal and Suranjan. A decade later, she befriended Patua artists, Baharjaan and Suman Chitrakar from Medinipur, who painted beautiful scrolls of Bonobibi’s story. Joy and Annu connected over their shared commitment and decided to make a film together on the Sundarbans.”
