Cleveland International Film Festival will present Indian director Rima Das with its SOMEONE TO WATCH Award, given to mid-career filmmakers who are rising stars in international filmmaking.

Das’s films, BULBUL CAN SING (2018) and VILLAGE ROCKSTARS (2017) will be showcased at the upcoming 43rd Festival, with Das in attendance for the screenings of these films.

Das is a self-taught filmmaker, who was born and raised in Chaygaon, a small village in Northeast India. When she was growing up, her father was the head teacher of a girls’ high school, and her mother ran a local bookstore and printing press. As a child, Das was adventurous and creative, spending her days climbing trees and exploring nature. As reflections of her own experiences, her films, VILLAGE ROCKSTARS (2017) and BULBUL CAN SING (2018), depict young girls growing up in rural India with similar rebellious natures to her own.

As a young woman, Das went on to graduate with honors from Cotton College Guwahati and received her Master’s in Sociology from Pune University. In addition to writing and directing, she now manages the Mumbai-based production company, Flying River Films, which supports local and independent filmmakers in the region.

VILLAGE ROCKSTARS, her second feature film, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017 and won numerous awards on the festival circuit, including an India Gold and Best Film on Gender Equality at the Mumbai Film Festival, as well as Best Feature Film at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.

Her most recent film, BULBUL CAN SING, also won an India Gold at the Mumbai Film Festival in 2018 and has received numerous nominations. An accomplished independent filmmaker, Das has won several national and international awards and nominations for her work. In 2018 GQ India named Das one of the 50 Most Influential Young Indians.

The 43rd Cleveland International Film Festival will be held March 27 – April 7, 2019