Vishal, a young documentary filmmaker, is on a quest to find the perfect subject for his film. His enthusiastic local guide takes him into the heart of a story, one about a little boy, Mato and his pet goat, Arjun. 

Basing its plot on Mahasweta Devi’s ‘The Armenian Champa Tree’, the film presents a nexus between superstition and sincere companionship. It endeavors to construct its world with care and thought as it takes us deeper into the issues that plague its characters, presenting a metanarrative of sorts, a film about making a film. 
The film’s most notable aspect is its approach to storytelling, especially achieved with its edit and screenplay. Though a few stones remain unturned in achieving all of these intentions, the film in its current form offers a completed whole, while also leaving the door open for more such attempts at storytelling and world-building in the future.

The Legend of Mato | Short Film Nominee

The film is inspired by Attia Hussain’s short story ‘Phoenix Fled’ which explores the Partition of India alongside its engagement with the violence that remains intrinsic to the event. In the same vein, coupled with its own experimental approach to storytelling, the narrative explores thematic concerns pertaining to the past and how it ties with the protagonist's reality. The story is of one day when two children visit their grandmother, and a realm of memories, and things long gone by, are conjured. 
The storytelling is defined more by obscurity than lucidity, alongside stylized visuals that present a narrative fraught with an imperfect overlap of the past and the present. The end result is defined by a singular voice of engaging with all of these components, one that evidences potential and should be expanded upon in more such endeavors.

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