Synopsis

RENUKA and SADIYA, two working-class women in love with each other, enjoy their day out celebrating Renuka’s birthday. After a fun-filled day, they head home to spend the night together. But unknown to them, RENUKA’s son, MANGESH, is around.

MY MOTHER’S GIRLFRIEND is the story of what happens when these two relationships collide.

Director Biography – Arun Fulara

Arun Fulara is a writer and filmmaker based out of Mumbai, India.

His debut short film SUNDAY (2020) has travelled widely to festivals around the world including at Tampere Film Festival, Frameline Film Festival, Roze Filmdagen, Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, Shorts Mexico, Inside Out Toronto and GAZE Dublin. The film has won multiple awards at festivals internationally including the prestigious Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Filmmaker at Kashish MIQFF in 2020.

His sophomore short film MY MOTHER’S GIRLFRIEND won the prestigious Kashish QDrishti Film Grant (2020) awarded by Lotus Visual Productions and the Kashish Arts Foundation. The film has since screened at multiple international festivals and won the Best Film awards at REELING: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival (2021) and at International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (2021).

Director Statement

Over the last few years I have constantly questioned myself about my role as a filmmaker. Given how grim things are around us, I think we need happier stories to keep us going. Not empty sugar coated stories that are set in some la-la-land, but stories that are rooted in the real world yet help us to understand each other side better, feel what others are feeling, and hopefully come together as a society and people.

With this film I wanted to create characters that people can, not just identify with but also feel inspired by. Renuka, the older women and the mother in the story is one such character. She’s liberated in her mind, clear about what she wants in life and behaves accordingly.

We rarely see older characters like Renuka as sexual agents in our films, certainly not in India, and most certainly not when they happen to be our mothers.

How many times have we seen on screen two mature female lovers enjoy each other’s company? Almost never.