The film made by Sangita Iyer recently won the best short film award at the WILDsound Daily Festival.
Titled MITTI, the short film also bagged the best environmental film at the Toronto Documentary Feature and Short Film Festival.Iyer, a 51-year-old Barodian who settled in Canada over 25 years ago, said that she aimed to highlight the advantages of organic farming and also discover passion.
“The film is a true story of a young girl, a native of Punjab, who was born and raised in Canada. She discovered her Ikigai (sense of purpose) in organic farming and how she sells her produce at a farmer’s market,” Iyer, a certified positive psychology educator and filmmaker, told TOI.
“The 30-minute film talks about organic farming, how it saves the soil and stops the environmental conditions from degrading. It also inspires people to discover their Ikigai and work on their goals,” Iyer, a resident of Toronto, said.
The film’s trailer was launched in October 2023 following which she sent her entry to several film festivals.
MITTI won best short documentary award at Berlin Film Festival, was a semi-finalist at Atlanta Movie Awards, Monte Carlo Movie Awards and Dubai Independent Film Festival 2024. “My daughter Ashwini designed the posters for this short film,” she added. Iyer’s short films are mostly based on the theme of earth, animals and mental health.
In 2019, her short film ‘Gurucool — Shifting Mindsets’ was selected for screening at the South Asian Literature and Arts Festival in California. The film was based on the 21st century education system and how experts in Vadodara are impacting the shift.
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