KOLKATA: A Bengali film following the challenges of a schoolteacher, whose life was upended after her personal matters went public, has been selected for a world premiere at Busan International Film Festival.Data scientist Sandeep Kumar Paul’s ‘About an Intimate Matter (Ekanta Byaktigata Bishoy)’, starring Sreya Bhattacharya, examines the voyeuristic nature of modern society, placing the educator under public scrutiny while questioning her personal choices, including her sexual preferences.It is the only Bengali film in the A Window on Asian Cinema category. The other two Indian films in the same category are Anuparna Roy’s ‘Lovers in the Blue Night’ and Shahil H Shah’s ‘Birds on Ice’.Marking Paul’s feature film directorial debut, ‘About an Intimate Matter’ was shot two years ago. The supporting cast features Sanjita Das, Shimlli Basu, Sudipa Basu, Sandip Bhattacharyya, Chaiti Ghoshal and Ashoke Viswanathan. Tajdar Junaid scored the music and Prateek Pamecha did cinematography.Having learnt filmmaking by watching masters, like Abbas Kiarostami, Paul has no film school training. Asked how it feels as a data scientist to have a debut feature selected at Busan, he said, “It doesn’t matter who I am. It shouldn’t matter who will watch this film. They will either like it or not.” About the plot, Paul said, “Swarna, the teacher, faces relentless scrutiny of her private life and punishing workplace politics, while summoning quiet courage to reclaim her identity.“Sreya said she played a small-town teacher in a live-in relationship. “An incident forces her to take a relook of the world,” she said. Junaid told TOI: “As it’s an important issue, I wanted to be a part of the project,” he said.Though the film is under the LGBTQ+ section,Sreya said it steered clear of familiar tropes and celebrated the partnership of two characters who were women.
