Existence for Sale

Akhilesh Mandal got a master's degree in mediaeval history from Calcutta University. He has a diploma in fine arts from the Oriental Art College in Kolkata. Though he has a diploma in multimedia, he has started his career as a professional editor in the medium of audio-visuals since 2006. He is a very serious student of filmmaking. He devoted his valuable time to watching world and Indian cinema and learning the basics of filmmaking through films by world masters and filmmaking books.
He makes films from his passion for cinema; he collects artistic flavors from daily life and nature. He is an ex-student of the Chitrabani short filmmaking batch of 2015 and has directed a few short films and an independent feature (in post-production) till date. He has also produced a couple of short films.
He is a self-taught independent filmmaker and editor. His second short film, Asomprikto (2016), was selected for the Kerala International short and documentary film festival. Though he is not a student of any film school, this selection has driven him to become an independent filmmaker. This film earned 17 domestic selection and 12 regional awards. His next work, the experimental short film Paper Bag (2019), earned seven international selections. The Latin American short film festival, the Realtime International short film festival, and the Independent Video Festival in Greece were encouraging to him. He is making his first independent Bengali feature film, Bahaman Abarton (100 minutes), this year.