A still from Blue Fading Skies

Guwahati, March 23: The gripping story of an Assamese youth pursuing the great American dream and getting caught in the mayhem of 9/11 is about to compete with the best of digital films from around the world at the New York Film Festival.

Blue Fading Skies is a 27-minute digital film by Bhaskar Jyoti Das from Mangaldoi and the first from Assam to feature in the competition section of the festival. Only 50 films were selected from over 5,500 entries from across the world.

Das, who is at present based in New Delhi, described Blue Fading Skies as a ?silent poem? that seeks to convey the message that terrorism knows no boundaries. The story is told without any dialogue, relying solely on letters between a father and son to carry it forward.

?It really is a great honour for me as a new filmmaker, and even more as an Assamese, to be able to take my film to the New York festival,? Das said.

Blue Fading Skies is about Alokesh, a discontented teacher in Assam, and his bright son Gautom. The situation in Assam and the death of one of his students ? the deceased is also Gautom?s best friend ? in an attack by militants leads Alokesh to send his son to New York for a better life.

Gautom gets a job with a company that operates from the World Trade Center (WTC), but the father-son duo?s happiness is short-lived. The youth goes missing during the terror strike on the famous Twin Towers of the WTC and Alokesh dies of shock on hearing the news back in Assam. It transpires that Gautom is one of the lucky survivors, but the irony is that his father dies with the knowledge that his only son is no more.

Das, whose previous work includes a documentary on the disabled, said he intended Blue Fading Skies to be a universal film. Made on a shoestring budget, it seeks to make those who see it realise that terrorism is all-encompassing. ?It is a reflective, thought-provoking work. I used the letter as a tool to communicate my idea of the film. The letter is the main storyteller.?

Next on his mind is a full-length feature film. ?I hope to get a sensitive producer to make my dream a reality,? he said.

The talented filmmaker is at present working on two film concepts for HBO. On whether he hoped to win an award at the New York festival, Das said: ?I don?t know if I will win an award but I am glad to have come this far. I know it is very tough to compete with world-class filmmakers.?

Das had worked as a sports reviewer and a youth programmer for All India Radio, Guwahati, before shifting to the capital. He did a six-month course in direction and production at New Delhi?s Asian Film Academy.