Award-winning filmmaker Reema Maya’s short film Nocturnal Burger to have its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2023

Award-winning filmmaker Reema Maya's (aka Reema Sengupta) short film Nocturnal Burger will have its World Premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film festival 2023 in the ‘Short Film Section’ on 21st January 2023.

Reema’s last short film Counterfeit Kunkoo had its World Premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film festival as the only short film from India at the festival and the first Indian fiction short to be selected there in 16 years. It has since been selected at 120+ international film festivals and won 40 awards. It was also showcased in Sundance 2022 as part of their 40th Anniversary program. The film was also featured on Criterion, Mubi, Nowness and was awarded Vimeo Staff Pick - Best of Month.

Nocturnal Burger is the only Indian film in collaboration with the U.S.A to compete in the U.S. Fiction Short Films. The 64 Short Films for the 2023 lineup were selected from 10,981 submissions, the highest number on record.

The 28-minute short film is about a 13-year-old girl and a 30-year-old man who are brought to a police station in Mumbai in the middle of the night by two strangers. Amidst questionable motives and unreliable narrators, a frustrated female constable investigates what happened that night, and what could’ve happened.

The film stars Bebo Madiwal, Millo Sunka, Trupti Khamkar, Shrikant Mohan Yadav, Pushpendra Singh, Somnath Mondal, Vicky Shinde and Mukesh Pachode. A Catnip film presented by XRM Media is produced by Reema Maya and Michael Y Chow and executive produced by Surekha Sengupta and Sue Turley.

Reema Maya, writer-director of the film says, “I am very grateful to Sundance for their continued support. Getting nominated the first time was a life-long dream come true, I never even imagined being a two-time Sundance nominated filmmaker. It has helped me believe more in my voice and the stories I want to tell. Sundance 2018 was life-changing. I can’t wait to see what Sundance 2023 has in store for us!”

Michael Y Chow, Producer of the film says, “It is an honour and a pleasure to support Reema Maya's second short film at Sundance Film Festival. We were introduced to Reema through our Sundance x XRM Shorts Initiative Program and immediately saw something special in her as a rising international filmmaker.”

Sue Turley, Executive producer of the film says, "Having the immense pleasure of working with Reema this past year, I saw first-hand the raw talent and gifted storyteller she is. Excited to share Nocturnal Burger with the world at the Sundance Film Festival 2023 and bring this year's only Indian Short to the festival."

Nocturnal Burger Logline:

Somewhere between fantasy, trauma, paranoia, precaution, and the promise of a burger, a

night gets catapulted into an investigation of child abuse at a dysfunctional police station in

Mumbai.

Director's Note:

Nocturnal Burger a coming-of-age film in the darkest sense. We all remember our teenage moments of wanting to grow up too fast and the moment we understood for the first time what growing up actually feels like. It is in the transition between these two moments that the story of Nocturnal Burger takes place on a rainy night in Mumbai.

The journey of this film started from a very unfortunate true incident a few years ago. Everything that happened that night stayed deep inside me, and Nocturnal Burger is the first outlet it has had. It is an exploration of abuse and trauma; fantasy and escapism. It talks about the omnipresence of sexual abuse even in our public spaces, and the need for vigilance and intervention by the community.

We worked with a mix of non-actors and regional actors from various parts of the country and shot in real locations. On set we could feel the personal emotional investment of the team because the incidents we were addressing in the film were something most of us had encountered growing up.

We’re very excited to share our film with the world at Sundance Film Festival 2023 in January!

About Reema Maya aka Reema Sengupta:

Under the banner of her award-winning production studio CATNIP, Reema has directed ad-films for highly successful brand campaigns such as ‘Propah Lady’ for Puma, a mixed-media ad which won the 2021 Youtube Works Award for Best Long-form Video. Her ‘Love Will Find A Way’ campaign film for Bumble won her the Blue Elephant for Best Writing. She has also created campaign films for several global brands including Netflix, H&M, Jeep, Uber, Tissot, Singleton Whiskey, Bumble, Bacardi, Breezer, Red Bull, Budweiser, and more. She has worked with international music labels like Elektra and Warner Music Group, and has created music videos for reputed artists such as Prateek Kuhad, Ritviz and Badshah & Divine’s first-ever collaboration for Netflix.

Reema has been featured in Hindustan Times ’30 under 30’, Harper’s Bazaar’s ‘101 Creatives to Watch’, Elle India’s ‘5 Boss Ladies Who're Changing the Indie Music Scene’ and Luxelife’s ‘The New 40’.

Reema was awarded the prestigious Asian Film Academy Fellowship Award in 2012 and represented India at the Busan International Film Festival. She is also a two-time Tedx speaker. She studied Contemporary Media Practice at the University of Westminster, London where she explored new & convergent media and graduated at the top of the Media Art and Design School.