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  • Japan Premiere

Spotlight

My Mother's Girlfriend

Mazhya Aaichi Girlfriend

Director: Arun FULARA

2021|India, UK, Germany|15min|Language: Marathi, Hindi|Subtitles: English, Japanese

Date Time Venue
3/13 Sun 16:50《Short films program 2》 Cine Libre Umeda 4
3/18 Fri 12:20《Short films program 2》 Cine Libre Umeda 4
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Starring
Sushama DESHPANDE
Anju ALVA NAIK
Suhas SIRSAT
Synopsis

Tensions emerge in the relationship between a mother and son when he stumbles upon her relationship with another woman. Director Arun FULARA takes a subplot from a feature he was making to create this film that defies stereotypes and breaks all sorts of boundaries as he depicts love between two mature working-class women and a son who tries to understand. Amidst the backdrop of the vividly captured hustle and bustle of the city of Mumbai, this nuanced depiction of an inter-faith same-sex relationship in India offers a hopeful look at how people can learn to live in harmony.

[Jason MAHER]

Director's Message

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.

My Mother’s Girlfriend, the story of Renuka and Sadiya – two women deeply in love with each other.

Both above 40. Both from the working class.

We’ve made a film that I personally wanted to see – a tender, intimate love story of the kind we’ve never seen before coming out of India.

A joyous celebration of the love of these two mature women from the working class!

A story of love and acceptance.