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OSINAKI (STRANGER) is an Assamese-English psychological horror short film exploring a young girl's hostile fight with her slow delineation of mental faculties. Hiya’s life has always been plagued with painful peculiarities. But there's something stranger happening this time. When things end with her long-time best friend Namrata and her relationship with Joy teeter on the edge of extinction, she finds herself locked inside her old, ancestral house. Alienated and manic, things turn from bad to worse, strange to stranger. Hiya must look inwards this time to confront demons scarier than the ones she has ever encountered or succumb to the inescapable lunacy.

  • Dorina Bhuyan
    Director
  • Priyanuj Mazumdar
    Director
  • Kristi Mazumdar
    Writer
  • Priyanuj Mazumdar
    Writer
  • arthole. productions
    Producer
  • Angana Hazarika
    Key Cast
    "Hiya"
  • Sanjiwan Kaushik Baruah
    Key Cast
    "Joy"
  • Kristi Mazumdar
    Key Cast
    "Namrata"
  • Priyanuj Mazumdar
    Music
  • Dorina Bhuyan
    Editor
  • Ankan Sunuwar
    Cinematography
  • Kristi Mazumdar
    Production Design
  • Dorina Bhuyan
    Production Design
  • Siddhartha Phukan
    Production Design
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Osinaki (Assamese)
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Psychological Thriller, Psychological Horror
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 8 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 20, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    250 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Assamese, English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Pune Short Film Festival 2023
    Pune
    India
    Official Selection
  • Tagore International Film Festival 2022
    Bolpur
    India
    Best Short Film (Critics' Choice)
Director Biography - Dorina Bhuyan, Priyanuj Mazumdar

Dorina Bhuyan

Dorina Bhuyan is a Mumbai-based director, actor, and cinematographer from Guwahati, Assam. A creative assistant at Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, she has worked as a stage actor in prestigious theatre productions across India, including at the National School of Drama. Having honed her craft under veteran actors Baharul Islam and Bhagirathi Bai Kadam at Seagull Theatre, she has assistant directed "Sobi", a short film produced by Assamese OTT platform Niri9 in 2021.

Priyanuj Mazumdar

Priyanuj is a Minnesota-based writer, musician, and creative director from Guwahati, Assam. A creative writing graduate from Kingston University London, he is currently pursuing an MFA in Mankato, Minnesota. He is working on a psychological thriller novel and intends on venturing more into visual storytelling through future short film and music video projects. "Osinaki" is his first co-directorial venture.

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Director Statement

We created Osinaki out of our primal drive to tell stories that bridge the gap between sanity and insanity, and to push the line separating the two to the point it’s blurred. Alien hand syndrome, which this short film is based on, is a psychological disorder that is barely known, let alone represented on the screen. The crux of the movie was to create a psychological story that dangled between mental breakdowns and moments of sheer horror without drifting too far from confronting the human experience. While the stylistic and direction choices are reminiscent of psychological thrillers and horror, the main motivation was always to be rooted in narrating the story of a little-known mental disorder, and the traumatizing effects it has on the victim. The character of Hiya is supposed to be as deranged as human, as black as white, often in the middle, often in the grey.