{"id":966120,"date":"2026-05-17T07:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T07:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/966120\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T07:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T07:00:14","slug":"indian-folk-horror-bokshi-lands-spain-deal-with-wild-duck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/966120\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian Folk Horror ‘Bokshi’ Lands Spain Deal With Wild Duck"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSpanish genre distributor Wild Duck Productions has acquired rights to Indian filmmaker Bhargav Saikia\u2019s folk horror \u201cBokshi<\/a>\u201d for a Halloween theatrical release, following the film\u2019s successful festival run since its Rotterdam world premiere.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe deal was negotiated between Luis Rosales on behalf of Wild Duck and Brett Walker with Miguel Angel Govea of Alief, representing the filmmakers. Wild Duck is beginning Spanish dubbing next week.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBokshi,\u201d which translates to \u201cwitch\u201d in Nepali, has undergone significant creative evolution since its January 2025 world premiere in International Film Festival Rotterdam<\/a>\u2018s Harbour section. Following IFFR, the film was recut into a leaner version focusing on eroticism with a sense of dread, in the vein of Robert Eggers\u2019 work. This final cut premiered at Neuch\u00e2tel International Fantastic Film Festival and subsequently played Sitges, SXSW Sydney, Razor Reel Flanders, and the U.K.\u2019s Abertoir Wales festival.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film follows Anahita, a troubled teen who finds solace in Shalini, a mysterious history teacher leading a trek to an ancient site called \u2018The Navel.\u2019 The school excursion takes a dark turn as connections emerge between the site and a cult worshipping Bokshi, a feared folkloric demoness.<\/p>\n

\n\tShot over 80 days across remote Himalayan locations in Sikkim, West Bengal and Assam, the independent production features dialogue in Hindi, English, Nepali and Boksirit \u2013 a fully developed fictional language created for the film by Dutch linguist Jan van Steenbergen.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt its core, it is a cautionary tale that sheds light on universal and socially relevant themes of women empowerment and humanity\u2019s relation with Mother Earth,\u201d Saikia previously told Variety. \u201cThe film attempts to subvert the negative idea of the witch prevalent in society and presents it as a symbol of empowerment of the female.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film stars Mansi Multani (\u201cA Suitable Boy\u201d) and Prasanna Bisht (\u201cFarrey\u201d). Harsh Vaibhav penned the screenplay and serves as executive producer. Siddharth Sivasankaran and A. Vasanth handled cinematography, with music by Advait Nemlekar and editing by Himanshu Chutia Saikia.<\/p>\n

\n\tWild Duck Productions specializes in genre releases in the Spanish market. The company previously acquired Alief\u2019s Fantasia selection \u201cNesting\u201d at the European Film Market.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBokshi\u201d is currently enjoying a successful India-wide festival run, with the filmmakers in discussions with exhibitors, streamers and broadcasters about windowing a national release. At the Cannes market, Alief reports strong interest from buyers in Southeast Asia, North America, the U.K. and Europe.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe project was developed over five years by Saikia\u2019s Mumbai-based Lorien Motion Pictures. Saikia, who hails from the northeastern state of Assam, previously directed horror short \u201cAwakenings\u201d (2015), which screened at Sitges and Neuch\u00e2tel, and fantasy short \u201cThe Black Cat\u201d (2017).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spanish genre distributor Wild Duck Productions has acquired rights to Indian filmmaker Bhargav Saikia\u2019s folk horror \u201cBokshi\u201d for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":966121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[269721,6639,262082,77,269722,3943,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-966120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-bokshi","9":"tag-cannes-film-festival","10":"tag-cannes-film-market","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-international-film-festival-rotterdam","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116588630879994366","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=966120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/966121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=966120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=966120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=966120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}