Where the Taro Grows

As the region of Barak Valley, Assam, India, is swiftly giving way to newer formations, structures, and beliefs, two siblings converse over the phone about their deserted childhood home situated in the same region while residing far from it.

  • Anunay Barbhuiya
    Director
  • Anunay Barbhuiya
    Writer
  • Rajiv Mehrotra
    Producer
  • Anunay Barbhuiya
    Cinematographer
  • Anunay Barbhuiya
    Editor
  • Shashank Kothari
    Sound Designer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 20 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 28, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Bengali
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • 16th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala
    Thiruvananthapuram
    India
    July 29, 2024
    World Premiere
    Short Documentary Focus section (Out of Competition)
Director Biography - Anunay Barbhuiya

Anunay Barbhuiya is an independent filmmaker-artist from Assam, India, working at the intersection of ethnography, experimental documentary, and hybrid cinema. A graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, with a specialization in Film Direction, Anunay’s creative practice is rooted in exploring the overlaps between personal memory, spaces, and collective experience. His recent projects draw from the cultural and ecological landscape of the Barak Valley, Assam, with a focus on fringe identities and post-partition experiences.

His diploma film, Wet Blue Tarpaulin (2019), received multiple accolades, including Best Direction at the DMCS National Film Festival and screenings at the International Short and Independent Film Festival, Dhaka, and IDSFFK, Kerala. In 2023, he was awarded the PSBT Doc_Commune Fund for his short documentary Where the Taro Grows, which premiered at the 16th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala.

Anunay is currently developing his debut feature-length documentary, Evening’s Empty Courtyards. It was selected for the NFDC Doc Film Bazaar Work-In-Progress Lab at MIFF 2024 where it was mentored by the late Iikka Vehkalahti, Tereza Šimíková, and Axel Timo Purr. In 2025, it was selected for Doc Producing South where the project was awarded the Impact Partners grant.

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