MAYA Asian New Classics

For 12-year-old Maya, life is very simple in her village located in rural India. She and her foster brother Sonjay are perfectly matched in size, athletic ability, adventurousness and mischievousness, while their mother and father are loving, supportive and wealthy enough to live graciously and generously.

But everything changes when Maya becomes the victim of an ancient and brutal ritual that leaves her scarred for life. Although in the beginning, the film conveys casual high spirits in both action and direction, the tone shades darkly in the grim moments of the initiation ceremony.

A starkly powerful and extraordinarily provocative film, MAYA examines a ceremony that, although forbidden, is still practiced in parts of India today.