THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A documentary on autism, by a filmmaker who hails from Thiruvananthapuram, will premiere as the official selection in the non-feature film category of the Indian panorama at the ongoing 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. ‘In Our World’, directed and produced by filmmaker Shreedhar BS of Shred Creative Lab, highlights the many shades of autism through the narratives of three children. Shreedhar is a winner of 43 national and international accolades for creative excellence.
The documentary will be screened at 1pm on Monday. This film documents the lives of three autistic children explored through their day-to-day lived reality. With in-depth, semi-structured, candid interviews of parents and therapists; their day-to-day activities like swimming classes, horse-riding and music lessons; their special moments with parents, all converge into a narrative that spells hope.
“The way we live right now suggests there are two different worlds – of ‘them’ and us’. This film is a window for ‘us’ to see a world which needs to be understood in all its nonconformist ways and to assimilate ‘them’ in one world,” said Shreedhar.
This film goes beyond mere documentation of their lives to garner a nuanced understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder. It unveils their experiences, their daily negotiations and trials to tell the world that they do not need sympathy. They rather need to be understood and accepted for who they are and that we need to understand their world to co-exist as equals, the filmmaker said.