SECOND CHANCE Discovery

North American Premiere

Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and writer Subhadra Mahajan and executive Producer and cinematographer Swapnil S. Sonawane.

In writer/director Subhadra Mahajan’s distinctly crafted, insightful debut, Nia escapes the city to discreetly heal from an at-home abortion at her family’s vacation home tucked away within the Himalayan mountains of Northern India. Aiming to withdraw from reality, she roams the surrounding mountaintop and dances freely in nature, but periodically attempts to contact the man responsible for her predicament who has been ghosting her. Unexpectedly, Nia grows close to the elderly caretaker, Bhemi, and her precocious, aptly named grandson, Sunny, who both live on the property and were at first an unwelcome presence to her desire for isolation. Despite the difference in age and class, a heartwarming friendship begins to blossom. Comprised entirely of local actors and shot in stunning black and white, Mahajan captures the pure charm of this little mountain town and its people in her profoundly relatable, deeply personal debut. –Julia Kipnis