‘Brilliance’, marked by unmissable poetic and surrealist qualities, is simply a story of two high-school girls. However, it’s the treatment and portrayal of the said narrative that truly elevates it. 
The girls, aspiring painters and artists, while discussing their approach to art and linked goals, present metaphors that become the heart of the story. As they discuss self-portraits, and the revelations that they carry within, the characters speak of the many ways they are being stopped, or will eventually be stopped, from painting all that they desire. The question that then propels the narrative forward is that will they also be stopped from loving who they want, and as they want? 

It is in the implicit nature of this thought, loaded and moulded by uncertainty and chaos, that the act of painting becomes a metaphor for love. The ideas are further coupled with a beautiful background score, and heartfelt performances that thus bring the narrative home in a seamless manner.

Brilliance | Short Film of the Day

While the word Maya, also a woman's name, has several meanings in different traditions, cultures and languages, the one that stands out the most is its Sanskrit meaning - illusion. The word hence gains more significance in a film that is about a character's search for meaning, truth, an understanding of identity and the ability to feel something, especially when induced by a piece of art in a world that might otherwise seem illusory and beyond perceptible realities. Experimental in its approach, the film simply presents a single character, who sits by herself in a white room, before a painting, coveting the experiences of those who would have felt something at the sight of the creative expression before her. As she laments being deprived of these feelings, a further conversation is invoked on the aforementioned ideas, expressed through a narratorial voice coupled with the woman's bodily movements. She moves smoothly, covering the distance between herself and the painting, until she is before it. Reaching out to touch the painting allows the gesture to achieve an answer to the conundrums the audience has been presented with so far, along with a loud and resounding expression of self-love that ties the entire narrative together with a single sturdy thread.

Maya | Short Film Nominee

The short film opens with a sense of luxury and opulence that is conveyed to the viewer in no equivocal terms. The visuals are marked by tasteful, even if disturbing, pictures, artistic sculptures and gilded mirrors. A woman makes her way into a room and awaits her companion who would arrive in an hour. The swift pace at which the events are unfolding ensure that this hour is more than sufficient for both the protagonist and the viewer to have a harrowing experience in the room. The film is an endeavour to explore what it means to be alone in a space and how disturbing this seemingly harmless situation can turn out to be. It employs a mirror and reflections to conjure an atmosphere of uncertainty and suspense, along with using a painting that would become the focal point of all drama and action in the story. The most notable aspect of the film is the performance of its only character who convincingly portrays a palpable feeling of entrapment to the audience. However, in a space where strange occurrences are developing, with no escape likely, what will truly be the fate of the protagonist?

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