A Doll Made Up of Clay: SRFTI In Cannes
“A Doll Made Up of Clay,” a student film from Kolkata’s SRFTI, has been selected for the prestigious La Cinef segment at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Kokob Gebrehaweria Tesfay, this heartfelt tale of a Nigerian footballer’s dreams and struggles showcases the raw talent of SRFTI students.
Well, hold on to your hats and pour yourself a cuppa, because there’s a bit of splendid news wafting in from the City of Joy! A Doll Made Up of Clay, a students’ film from Kolkata’s very own Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), has been officially selected for the prestigious La Cinef segment at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Talk about punching above one’s weight!
La Cinef, for the uninitiated, is the festival’s competitive section reserved for films made by students from film schools across the globe — a veritable breeding ground for the cinematic movers and shakers of tomorrow. Directed by Kokob Gebrehaweria Tesfay, a spirited student of Direction and Screenplay Writing at SRFTI, the film finds itself among a select and rather distinguished batch of just 16 entries this year. No mean feat, if you ask me.
Tesfay, who hails from Zalambessa in Ethiopia, clearly hasn’t been sitting on his hands. Drawing deep from the well of oral storytelling traditions — passed down through the generations by his grandfather, a priest — Tesfay has woven these influences deftly into the narrative tapestry of A Doll Made Up of Clay. You could say, it’s storytelling with a bit of old-school magic tucked into every frame.
Now, here’s where it gets properly plucky. The film sprouted as part of SRFTI’s ‘Zero Budget Film Exercise’, an initiative by the Producing Department that asks students to make films without two pennies to rub together. Step forward Sahil Ingle, a producing student from Maharashtra, who somehow managed to pull the whole show together without breaking the bank — or indeed, having one in the first place.
The technical crew deserves a hearty clap on the back too: Vinod Kumar (cinematography), Mahmud Abu Naser (editing), Soham Pal (sound recording and design), and Himangshu Saikia (music) — a team who, by the looks of it, have managed to whip up a bit of magic on a shoestring.
The film’s story tugs rather fiercely at the heartstrings. It follows Oluwaseyi, a young Nigerian lad with footballing dreams as big as the sky. After selling off his father’s land to chase stardom in India, a cruel twist of fate sees him injured, dreams dashed in a blink. One minute on top of the world, the next, not a sausage. It’s a tale as old as time, but told here with raw, heartfelt honesty.
Posting on Instagram, Tesfay said, “Being selected as both writer and director, as an international student, is more than an achievement. It’s a reflection of where I come from, the stories I carry, and the voices I strive to represent… To everyone who stood beside me through the highs and the lows — thank you from the bottom of my heart.” Quite right too, Kokob — you’ve done yourself proud.
This year, the La Cinef selection committee sifted through a whopping 2,700 submissions from film schools across the planet before narrowing it down to just 13 live-action and three animated films. So it’s fair to say our lot have been properly handpicked from the cream of the crop.
The jury, chaired by acclaimed German writer-director Maren Ade, boasts an eclectic bunch: American filmmaker Reinaldo Marcus Green, French singer-actor Camelia Jordana, Spanish producer Jose Maria Prado Garcia, and Croatian director Nebojsa Slijepcevic. A real United Nations of talent, if you like.
Winners will be crowned at a ceremony on 22nd May at the Bunuel Theatre, ahead of the screenings of the awarded films. Here’s hoping A Doll Made Up of Clay bags a gong or two — fingers crossed and all that.
The 78th Cannes Film Festival runs from 13th to 24th May, and something tells me the folks at SRFTI had better start practicing their best red-carpet wave. After all, it’s not every day you get to give the French Riviera a run for its money!
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