Ishan Shukla’s Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust wins the NETPAC Award at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2024

Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust (India, France, Germany) by Ishan Shukla wins the NETPAC Award at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR) 2024. The NETPAC Award is awarded to the best Asian feature film by a jury from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema.

The jury comprised of Elena Larionova Haug, Donsaron Kovitvanitcha and Andreas Ungerböck stated, “The NETPAC Award at the IFFR 2024 goes to a film that bravely but not aggressively tackles the problems in current politics and in society, not only in Asia but worldwide. It is a film with a universal approach, done in a spectacular style with a clear vision, with a lot of astonishing ideas and  with a great sense of humour.”

Excited about the award, the debut filmmaker Ishan Shukla who also directed an episode of ‘Star Wars: Visions Volume 2’ says, “I believe this film is very important for the strange future we are heading into and a cautious reminder to hold our eccentricities. So I am thrilled that it has been embraced so positively by the Jury of the IFFR! Thanks to the wonderful audience as well who graced us with thunderous reception when we walked in the premiere with our BAGS on!”

The Executive producer of the film Anushka Shah of Civic Studios says, “We’re thrilled to know that Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust has won the NETPAC award, and that Ishan’s talent and commitment towards the film is recognised! The film’s message deserves to reach a wide audience given the current times we live in, and we believe this award will help it find further resonance.”

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Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust tells the story of a dystopian world where people are made to wear paper bags over their heads to dissolve differences, and an anonymous citizen sparks an accidental revolution.

Ishan’s debut feature is based on his award-winning short with the same name, ‘Schirkoa’ (2016) which played at 120 plus international film festivals and won 33 awards, including Best Animated Short award at the LA Shorts Festival and was longlisted for the Academy Awards.

The 103-minute film features principal voices of international film personalities such as Golshifteh Farahani, Asia Argento, SoKo, King Khan And The Shrines, Denzil Smith, John Sutton and introducing Tibu Fortes and Shahbaz Sarwar and guest star voices of Lav Diaz, Karan Johar, Shekhar Kapur, Anurag Kashyap, Piyush Mishra and auteur filmmaker Gasper Noé.

The film’s eclectic, immersive soundtrack is composed by the acclaimed Sneha Khanwalkar, who has created iconic compositions for films like Gangs of Wasseypur and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye.

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Schirkoa is an Indo-French-German co-production between Red Cigarette Media (Ishan Shukla’s Vadodara-based animation studio), Dissidenz Films (Paris-based production company led by Bich-Quan Tran), and Rapid Eye Movies (German production and distribution company led by Stephan Holl), in association with Civic Studios (Mumbai and London-based production studio focused on impact storytelling) and French Sofica Cofinova 18.

On the Indian side, it has been Executive-Produced by Civic Studios’ founder, Anushka Shah and co-produced by Samir Sarkar. The film was also supported by CNC Cinémas du Monde, Epic MegaGrants, Film¬ und Medienstiftung NRW and French region Nouvelle-Aquitaine

The film is represented by New Europe Film Sales for its international sales, and will be co-repped by Anonymous Content for the North America region.