Chaitanya Tamhane (b. 1987, Bombay, India) studied English literature as well as film and is successful at European film festivals constantly on the lookout for new talent. In 2012 he was selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus. His directorial debut Court (2014) received support from the Hubert Bals Fund, an initiative of the Rotterdam IFF. A film which takes a look at the Indian judiciary, the drama was screened at Venice in 2014, where it won the Luigi De Laurentiis Award as Best Debut, and also Best Film in the Orizzonti section. "I was curious to explore the figures of authority involved in a trial: the judge, prosecutor and the defence lawyer, who are themselves slaves to rules, protocol, and hierarchy. I soon realised these people come from the same socio-cultural context as the rest of us. Except that they're in a position of power. So the film also became a study of society, the collective," says Tamhane of his debut.
50. MFF Karlovy Vary
