Cactus, a silent feature length film depicting Jesus Christ as a woman will soon release on the OTT giant Amazon Prime Video. The film first opened in Vienna in 2019, and was shown in Marche du Film, Cannes. The experimental gender-bender went on to be the official selection at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne and moved on to Rome and Argentina. It is now preserved in the Academy Film Archives.
The film is shot in two long takes and is split into the two eras of B.C. and A.D. It is losely based on the Michelangelo sculpture, the masterpiece Pieta. Jesus is portrayed by Aparajita Dey and the cast also includes Aishani De and Anurupa Chakroborty. The film sheds light on both the character Mother Mary (portrayed by Ashani De) and the birth, life & death of Jesus Christ along with The Last Supper shown from a new point of view.
On the imminent release of his project on Amazon, the film director Aneek Chaudhari, best known for his film “White”, has expressed his joy in having his ‘labour of love’ released digitally. He names the movie “Cactus”, as the desert plant’s imperfections signifies the thorny path, we face in our life. When faced with backlash on portraying Jesus Christ as a woman, he says such things are unimportant and what matters is acknowledging the hard work and courage shown by the cast and crew no matter how ‘disrespectful’ or ‘sacrilegious’ it may seem to others. He goes on to add that Aparajita Dey was sublime in the movie.
Currently Aneek is working on a Malayalam movie titled “Nrittam”, a modern day adaptation of the epic Mahabharatha.
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