Kolkata-based doctor Rudrajit Roy’s debut Bengali feature Pinjar, produced by Chasing Dreams Films, will have its India premiere at the 31st Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF). The film will screen in the Competition section of the Bengali Panorama category.

Pinjar: Where the Caged Bird Becomes a Mirror to Society had its world premiere at the 16th Chicago South Asian Film Festival, followed by its Australian premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Sydney, Canadian premiere at the International Indian Film Festival of Toronto, and European premiere at the Asian Film Festival Barcelona.

The ensemble cast of the film includes Mamata Shankar, Joy Sengupta, Satakshi Nandy, Sagnik Mukherjee, Samiul Alam, Mallika Banerjee, Ishan Mazumder, Tathagata Mukherjee, and Swastidipa Rabidas.

“Dr. Rudrajit Roy’s debut Bengali feature Pinjar unfolds like a lament—on freedom, survival, and the invisible cages that surround us. Set against the rustic landscapes and crowded alleys of Bengal, the film draws a haunting parallel between the illegal trapping of wild birds and the subtle imprisonments within human lives,” reads the film’s official synopsis.

Through the intertwined stories of Jhimli, Paromita, Shefali, Tarak, and Iqbal, Pinjar examines how patriarchy, poverty, illiteracy, religion, and domestic violence create unspoken prisons.

Developed after two years of immersive fieldwork with rural and tribal communities, the film depicts the unsettling practice of bird poaching with ethical precision, with each bird filmed under expert supervision and later released into the wild.

The screenplay is penned by Rahul Roye, with cinematography by Manas Bhattacharyya.

“Pinjar is my personal protest against the cages we build—around birds, and around people. Through five characters navigating emotional, social, and spiritual confinement, I explore how we all give in to preexistent algorithms. This film is both a cry against cruelty and a quiet plea for compassion,” said director Rudrajit Roy in a statement.