Rapture
Press Play to start
Polish premiereTheatrical Screenings
Online Availability
Additional Materials
Film description
Once every couple of years, a rare species of cicadas appears near a catholic village in North-East India. The insects are considered an exotic delicacy, and the night hunts for them are an important part of the collective practice. The village harmony is disrupted when children start disappearing during the hunts. The local pastor sees it as a sign of an upcoming apocalypse that will be fulfilled after the darkness will take over the surrounding forest for 80 days. We are seeing the disturbing events from the point of view of the 10-year-old Kasan, suffering from night blindness. For him, the encounter with the darkness will also be a confrontation with his own imagination. All fears grow bigger at night, and the only thing that can overcome it is keeping calm and having a community to lean on.
Dominic Sangma's film, which premiered in Locarno, is an exploration of the nature of human fears, materializing in the collective paranoia. Even though we see the world through the eyes of a child, the real protagonist of the movie is the community whose life is controlled by a religious narration and the fear of Other. Here, Christianity is intertwined with local beliefs, allowing Sangma's story to keep leading the audiences astray, leaving them feeling lost. The result is a fascinating, visually impressive portrait of the dichotomy of the safe "here" and the "there" shrouded in darkness.
text:
Łukasz Mańkowski
Dominic Sangma
Graduate of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute where he studied directing and screenwriting. Founder of the ANNA FILMS production company and Artistic Director of the Kelvin Cinema Festival of Films. "Rapture" is his second feature and a part of the trilogy devoted to the Garo culture Sangma is tied to. While working on the film, Sangma drew on his own experiences and memories of growing up in a small village where events traumatic for any young boy were also taking place.
2018 MA.AMA / Moan
2023 Wzmożenie / Rimdogittanga / Rapture
