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Back to list The Scavenger of Dreams (aka The Waste Collector)

Director’s Profile

Suman Ghosh is a National Award - winning Indian filmmaker. He has made 7 feature films and 1 documentary film. His first feature film Footsteps (2006), won 2 Indian National Awards in 2008. It was shown at numerous film festivals including Vancouver, Karlovy Vary and IAAC New York. His next feature film Nobel Thief (2011), was world premiered at the Busan International Film Festival 2011 and was an official selection at the BFI London Film festival 2011. The film received the Best Indian Film Award at the Bengaluru International Film Festival in 2012. His next feature film Shyamal Uncle Turns off the Lights (2012) was world premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2012 and had its North American Premiere at the MoMA, NY. It won the Outstanding International Feature Award at the Reelworld Film Festival in Toronto. Peace Haven (2014), his next film, was a recipient of the Asian Cinema Fund 2013 and was world premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2015. It made into a number of prominent film festivals and was acquired by Netflix. In 2019 he made his first Hindi film called Aadhaar (2019) which is produced by Drishyam Films and Jio Studios.

Synopsis

Birju and Shona are a couple who live in a slum in Kolkata with their 6 years old daughter Buri. They are waste collectors. Every morning they start their day when Birju goes out with his cart to collect garbage from many areas from a posh locality in Kolkata - Ballygunj. Birju collects the garbage and sifts through them to find objects which he might take home.
Every evening the objects that he brings home become the story material to their daughter Buri. Shona tells stories with the different objects that Birju brings home. She imagines the life of the rich people in Ballygunj and how the objects are intertwined in their lives.
One day when Birju has gone to Ballygunj to collect the garbage, some people from the local office of the government accost him and tell him that his services are not needed any more. A huge truck has arrived which automatically collects the trash and crushes it to be taken away. He goes back in the evening to Shona and tells her what happened. At the same time, it is time for Buri to hear the stories from her mother so that she can go to sleep. With a heavy heart the mother starts telling her a story which is basically the story of their family and Shona tells Buri how her father lost his livelihood. Buri is quiet. She is teary eyed. She can understand that it is the end of her garbage stories. She turns around and goes to sleep.

Achievements

2023 Busan International Film Festival
2023 Mumbai Film Festival

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