A still from the short film ‘From Nowhere’
“Since I memorised the lines, I could gather if somewhere the intonation was wrong or something felt off in the delivery,” he explained. The film follows a carefree young Kolkata Hakka Chinese man devastated by his girlfriend’s migration to Canada, which forces him to confront deep-seated issues of identity, rootlessness, and otherisation while feeling like an outsider in his birthplace. It features Kolkata Hakka Chinese people in the cast — Kenneth Emmanuel Liao as Henry, Chin Chen Hillary Chu as Hillary, Joanne Lee as Mother, and Clement Tseng as James — alongside a technical team, including cinematographer Kaushik Patra, editor Charu Takkar, sound designers Moinak Bose and Jeremy Fonseca, and production designer Sheldon Rebello. Unfamiliar with the Hakka language, the director wrote the script in English, collaborating closely with translators, cultural experts, and his cast to translate and cross-check every line. Since the film stars non-actors, he spent months conducting intensive acting workshops with them.
Kolkata: Shomik Basuray’s ‘From Nowhere’, believed to be India’s first Hakka-language short film, is headed to Germany for screenings at Interfilm Berlin on Nov 12 and 14. Basuray’s personal connection to the project began around 2020 after meeting Hillary — who plays the female protagonist — on an ad film shoot.
“Reluctant to leave the city of his birth, the only place where he feels at home yet also feels like an outsider, the protagonist is forced to do some soul searching about his identity and roots,” said the director-writer, who is leaving for Berlin on Nov 7. “Through her, I befriended Henry, a Hakka Chinese youth from Tiretta Bazaar, the second, smaller Chinatown in Kolkata,” he said. Set against the backdrop of Kolkata’s Chinatown, the film explores themes of longing, belonging, and identity. The short film has already been screened at Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF). Shot between Tangra and Tiretta Bazaar, the film achieves its striking visual appeal through a rich red palette.