Delhi-based filmmaker Vishwendra Singh’s debut feature film, the migrant drama ‘Feather Men’ (Koriya), has been selected for the In Production (WIP) category of the WAVES Film Bazaar, the market division of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
This project is by Future East Film. The film is produced by Niharika Singh (Cla$$) and executive produced by Asim Ahluwalia (director of Miss Lovely, which premiered at Cannes, Venice and SXSW). Co-producers include Faraz Khan (Going Rogue films) and Prayas Deepti (Inquilab Studios).
“Feather Men” follows two Nepalese half-brothers as they struggle to keep their modest chicken farm afloat when an avian influenza outbreak wipes out their flock. The rift between the two brothers intensifies as their livelihoods collapse. A migrant parlor worker fighting against the predatory labor and exploitation of the city’s beauty industry is the third character in the film, which the filmmakers describe as “both an intimate portrait and a broader metaphor for people living on the fringes of India’s burgeoning urban expansion.”
Producer Niharika Singh says, “This is a story about the search for universal dignity in a world that is changing faster than people can keep up.”
Director Vishwendra Singh has been working with Future East for many years, having worked on the team for Daddy (2017), The Field Guide to Evil (2018) and Cla$$ (2023). His debut short “Hauah” was screened at festivals such as NYIFF and DIFF. “Feather Men” is his first full-length work.
Production has been independently funded to date, but the team is currently seeking completion funding to complete post-production and begin working with sales and distribution partners. Debut actors Naresh Rai, Bawana Rai and Suman Rai lead the cast of the Nepali-Hindi feature, which is currently in the editing stage.
“At Future East, we are committed to creating space for stories that find little support within mainstream and arthouse frameworks. With Kolya, we reaffirm our belief that cinema must belong to those who exist on its periphery and are often unrecognized. This is a story that is not bound by geography, but is informed by the common human desire to be seen, heard and remembered,” says producer Singh.
