Danish Tamil director Nivetha Balasubramaniam wins at film festival

Pitching her latest film idea titled “Etniske Smerter” (Ethnic Plains) to a panel of her peers, Danish Tamil film director Nivetha Balasubramaniam won the 2nd spot and 15.000 kr at the Odense International Film Festival.

Pitch Me Baby is the live pitch competition held at the Odense International Film Festival in Denmark, in collaboration with Danish Writers Guild and Danish Film Directors. The best submitted short film ideas compete live on stage in front of a competent jury and a large audience. In just five minutes, the 8 pitches must present their idea and thoughts and convince the jury that their idea deserves a work grant in order to get a big step closer to realisation.

Separately, Nivetha’s 2022 short film, Amala, about a Tamil teenager living with her family in Denmark, was screened at the same festival – which ran from 28th August to 3rd September.

Amala, doesn´t feel neither Danish nor Tamil. She takes care of the domestic duties and tries to be a good Tamil girl but at the same time has vivid daydreams of belonging to the neighbouring ethnic Danish family. When her mother discovers that Amala has a secret Danish boyfriend and confronts her with it, Amala is done letting go of her mother’s expectations. She wished she was not part of the family and that Amma was not her mother! On the family house altar, the god Ganesh stands and listens, and the next day Amala wakes up with the Danish neighboring family, now as Amalie, and without recollection of her previous life.

A “Where do I belong”- tale spiced up with hindu magic and mystique. Amala is played by Danish Sinhalese actress, creative and engineer Neesha Dewa.

Click here to watch Amala