The Curse

We follow an old woman digging for water on a barren piece of land. She digs and digs, and the furrows in the dry earth are reflected in the folds of her face. She almost disappears into the pit, at the edge of which a girl appears. The two exchange glances. The old woman shares coins from a boat that has run aground with water. The water vendors carry torches through the night. Associative and hallucinatory images alternate with narrative moments. In the end, the hope for water comes at a high price.

In a society marked by gendered violence, nine-year-old Arushi and Milena, twenty-one, reclaim space through Kalari—the world’s oldest martial art. The film follows their fight for self-empowerment and the freedom to be the women they chose to be.