Barefoot Empress

Barefoot Empress is an Indo-American short documentary film directed by Vikas Khanna. The film depicts the life story of a woman in India who enrolls in first grade at the age of 96. The film is co-produced by Oscar nominated Doug Roland and Deepak Chopra serves as an executive producer.[1]

Barefoot Empress
Directed byVikas Khanna
Produced by
  • Doug Roland
  • Bindu Khanna
Starring
  • Karthyayani Amma
CinematographyOmee Ganatra
Edited by
  • Ashish Uikey
  • Archit Rastogi
Music by
  • Raashi Kulkarni
  • Ila Paliwal
  • Priyabrata Panigrahi
Production
companies
  • Doug Roland Films
  • House of Omkaar
  • Saffron Pen
  • 1ampictures
Release date
  • May 13, 2021 (2021-05-13)
Running time
15 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageMalayalam
Budget$5,000

Summary

Barefoot Empress, a 15 minute short film revolves around Karthyayani Amma, who, having never had access to education as a girl, finally gets a chance at education. At 96-years-old she was the oldest among the 43,330 candidates who appeared for the 'Aksharalaksham' test, a fourth standard equivalent examination. Karthyayani Amma scored a 98 out of 100 on a literacy examination conducted by the Kerala government. The state-run Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority (KSLMA) has certified that her score is a record.

Production history

Karthyayani Amma's story caught director Vikas Khanna's attention via a tweet in 2018. Hearing the first-hand account of her life inspired the making of Barefoot Empress.

Accolades
Year Award Category Result Ref.
2021 Bangalore Shorts Film Festival Festival Award Won [2]
2022 ShortShorts Film Festival Biogen award Won [3]
2022 Big Apple Film Festival Short Documentary Won [4]

References
  1. Yossman, K. J. (2022-11-17). "Deepak Chopra Boards Vikas Khanna's Documentary Short 'Barefoot Empress' as Executive Producer". Variety. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  2. "12th Bengaluru International Film Festival".
  3. "ShortShorts Film Festival".
  4. "Big Apple Film Festival 2022 Award Winners". 20 November 2022.
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