THE CALF DOLL
Ankur Hooda
13.11 17:00h | 14.11 19:00h
SYNOPSIS
In a smog-choked village, a retired professor faces despair when his cow delivers a stillborn calf. Abandoned by his farmhand, he reluctantly turns to the forbidden ritual of crafting a life-like calf doll from the stillborn’s body, despite his wife’s warnings. Together, they struggle between tradition and change as the quiet rhythms of rural life collapse around them slowly.
Spanish premiere. With the presence of the director.
Why must you see it?
The director’s family inhabits a landscape shrouded in mist in Haryana, a rural region of India marked by an unstoppable exodus to the cities. Their rootedness in the countryside is embodied in the relationship between an elderly man and his last cow; filmed featuring the director’s own relatives, the documentary becomes a tale that encapsulates the tensions and contradictions of modern-day India. With a refined and precise aesthetic approach, The Calf Doll is a film whose powerful images and situations linger in our memory long after we leave the theater.
Margot Mecca
Ankur Hooda
Ankur Hooda is a 25-year-old self-taught filmmaker and writer. Raised in a small village in Haryana, he studied Advertising in Mumbai while exploring filmmaking. His work explores humanist themes, spatial identities, and the anthropology of rural life amid rapidly changing regional landscapes. The Calf Doll is his debut feature film.
Year: 2026
Country: India
Length: 91 min
Language: Haryanavi
Subtitles: English & Spanish
Director: Ankur Hooda
Production House: QISSAGHAR FILMS
Producer: Ankur Hooda
