Cactus Pears

Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Jury Prize at Sundance, and Best Feature Film Award at SXSW London, Cactus Pears is the very definition of masterful cinematography and nuanced storytelling.

30-year-old Mumbai call centre worker Anand returns to his family’s Maharashtra village upon learning of his father’s death and reincarnation as a bird. Subjected to being the centrepiece of the family’s requisite 10-day mourning customs, Anand’s grief and escapist goat herding slowly lead him back into the orbit of his childhood friend Balya, now a farmhand.

What unfolds is so simple yet so gorgeous: a rustic, real portrait of family, love, and memory. Cactus Pears is meditative without being heavy, showing both the pressure of “when will you marry?” and the quiet surprise of parental acceptance. Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s semi-autobiographical debut feature is a masterpiece of queer cinema, capturing the warmth of (rural) life alongside its complications, and the beauty of a childhood self rediscovered.

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