E V E R Y D A Y

The Loneliness of Science Fiction

Interstellar (2014, dir. Christopher Nolan)

The Martian (2015, dir. Ridley Scott)

Annihilation (2018, dir. Alex Garland) 

Blade Runner 2049 (2017, dir. Denis Villeneuve) 

Britney Spears - Everytime

Long Distance (2019), dir. Anoop Lokkurs, 7min.

“It’s a conversation that I, and any young Indian woman, have had with their mothers. Once they have reached the ‘marriageable age’, it’s rare to find a moment when the family isn't talking about how all the acchhe ladke (good boys) are taken, how so-and-so is already pregnant with her second child and how Mrs XYZ has a rishta in mind for you. It’s a conversation that acquires some urgency when the daughter in question is living away from home.

This conversation forms the crux of Long Distance, a seven-minute short about an Indian lesbian in Australia in conversation with her mother back home. It starts off innocently enough with them talking about work and exchanging news, but quickly moves to the dangerous topic, for the (perceived) single woman, of marriage. Aayushi follows a script most Indian women are familiar with: trying to deflect. What’s relatable about her character is her relationship with her mother, and the struggle to maintain the expectation of being a ‘good Indian daughter’ while leading a different life in reality. It makes you question how much would you lie to people you care about just to please them.

“One thing that stood out to me watching the film with a live audience at Palm Springs Film Festival and talking to them afterwards was that no matter where they were from or what their background was or how old they were, they could all relate to the film and the conversation,” says director, Melbourne-based filmmaker Anoop Lokkur. “I think this conversation is universal especially for Indian children.”

Lokkur drew on his own conversations with his mother for the film. “The idea came to me one night after talking to my mother. She asked me how my job was; I said that it was going well when in reality I'd been sitting in my living room most of the day trying to come up with ideas for a short film. By the end of the call, I was struck by how many lies I had told her just to satisfy her expectations of me,” he says. Once the idea had formed in his head, he wrote it down straight away in a couple of minutes. A friend convinced him the story had merit and to film.

full video here

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