U.K. Oscar Contender ‘Santosh’ Sets U.S. Release Date, Unveils Trailer (EXCLUSIVE)

Metrograph Pictures has unveiled a trailer and a U.S. release date for British Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s “Santosh.”

The film, which had its world premiere at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard strand, is the U.K.’s submission to the Oscars’ international feature category. Metrograph snapped up North American rights after the film’s Cannes premiere.

In the film, a government scheme sees newly widowed Santosh (Shahana Goswami) inherit her slain husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of northern India. When an underage girl from one of India’s so-called “lower castes” is murdered, Santosh is pulled into the investigation by charismatic feminist inspector Sharma (Sunita Rajwar).

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“Santosh” received strong reviews following its Cannes premiere, with Variety calling it a “whip-smart film” that “speaks the language of a fiercely feminist empowerment saga.”

The film, set in a fictitious northern Indian state, is structured as a police procedural but one with Indian caste and religion politics deeply baked into it. “I don’t make films for messaging, per se, but for me, it was about a type of place where these things just hang there,” Suri had told Variety before the Cannes premiere. “There are places where religious intolerance, casteism, prejudice and misogyny, they’re sitting heavily in the atmosphere. And I was very interested to look at Santosh and think, if a woman’s coming from a house, maybe the household was her kingdom, and her reign was there. And then she moves into this place. What I was wanting to explore was about the casual nature of these things, and how it might infiltrate and how she might absorb these forces.”

The film is backed by the BFI and BBC Film (both U.K.) in co-production with ZDF (Germany) and Arte (France), in association with Haut et Court Distribution (France) and with the support of France’s Aide aux Cinémas du Monde-CNC-Institut Français. Production companies are Good Chaos (U.K.) in association with Suitable Pictures in India and in co-production with Razor Film in Germany and Haut et Court in France. Producers include Mike Goodridge, James Bowsher, Balthazar de Ganay and Alan McAlex. MK2 Films is handling international sales.

Metrograph Pictures will release the film in the U.S. on Dec. 27.

Watch the trailer here: