Singapore-based Impact production company Hazelnut Media has acquired international rights to the Bengali feature film ‘Pinjar’, directed by Kolkata doctor and filmmaker Dr Rudrajit Roy, and plans to expand the film’s release through a real-world initiative that supports the education of rural girls in West Bengal.
The film is scheduled to be released in Indian theaters on July 10th.
The deal took place in Kolkata, and included a white dove-releasing ceremony that featured the film’s central motif of liberation.
Produced by Chasing Dreams Films in association with Bell Jar Films, “Pinjar” (translated as “cage”) centers on five characters whose lives are tied together by a common weakness that prevents them from breaking free. Tarak is a bird catcher who survives by trapping the very flight he cannot achieve. His daughter Zimri comes of age in a world that constrains her before she can find her bearings. Paromita, a widowed teacher, hides her loneliness behind her duties and routine, while Shefali, a working wife, hides her bruises under concealer and silence. Iqbal, an immigrant Muslim, is adrift in a city that refuses to welcome him. Running through all their stories is a wild bird stolen from the forest, peddled in the market, or caged in a house, whose restlessness becomes a symbol of all the characters’ yearning for freedom.
The ensemble cast includes Mamata Shankar, Joy Sengupta, Sagnik Mukherjee, Mallika Banerjee Roy, Satakshi Nandy, Ishan Mazumder, Tathagata Mukherjee, Swastidipa Ravidas and Samiul Alam. Manas Bhattacharya is the cinematographer and music is by Ratul Shankar. Music rights were acquired by Pluto Music.
“From the beginning, we believed in the power of ‘Pinger’ to move hearts and inspire change,” said Olivier A. Dock and Isabella Sreyashii Sen, Co-CEOs of Hazelnut Media. “Our commitment is to support films and their creators to make a tangible impact on the ground while ensuring their stories of resilience and freedom reach audiences around the world.”
The film has accumulated considerable festival mileage since its world premiere at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival in 2025, and was also screened at the Barcelona Asian Film Festival, Toronto International Indian Film Festival, Sydney Indian Film Festival, London Bengal Film Festival, Montreal South Asian Film Festival, and HarpiFest. Roy won the Best Director award at the Third Eye Asian Film Festival in Mumbai.
“‘Pinger’ was born from the image of a caged bird, a metaphor for the boundaries that shape human life,” Roy said. “My vision was to have viewers think about the cages we’ve inherited and the quiet human desire to rise above them.”
Hazelnut Media, which also serves as the film’s executive producer, has plans for international expansion beyond India, with theater and festival plans covering diaspora markets in South and Southeast Asia, the UK, the Middle East and Singapore, before moving on to a wider mainstream theatrical release. The strategy leverages co-CEO Dok’s 30 years spanning Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, as well as co-CEO Sen’s track record as a rare independent female theatrical distributor operating across South and Southeast Asia (she has overseen nearly 120 international film releases in the region). The two previously collaborated on the India-Singapore co-production Early Days, the Iran-Singapore co-production Taji, and co-produced Legendia, an international effort to bring classic cinema to new audiences.
“This film was made with sacrifice and faith,” said Animesh Ganguly, associate producer, Bell Jar Films. “Seeing Hazelnut Media champion it globally and connect it to girls’ education is a deep affirmation of why we created Pinjar in the first place.”
Roy, who practices critical care medicine in Kolkata, developed the film through two years of fieldwork in rural areas and slums across West Bengal. His previous short films include the science fiction “Wavelength,” the drama “Man and Wife,” and the documentary “Chasing My Dream,” which have won 22 international awards alone, and together these films have earned selections at Oscar-nominated festivals.
