Aug 24, 2026 9:09am IST
Anjali Patil’s Tamil Film ‘Selvi’ Debuts In Vision – Asia Selection At 31st Busan International Film Festival 2026 (EXCLUSIVE)
"Selvi," Tamil writer-director Sailesh Rathnakumar’s debut feature, starring and produced by Anjali Patil, has been selected in the Vision - Asia section at the 31st Busan International Film Festival (held between October 6 to 15 2026).
An intimate drama set within the largely unseen world of home-care workers, Selvi is a film about migration, friendship, guilt, exhaustion and the determination to keep moving forward.
It follows a migrant home-care nurse, Selvi, as she moves from one house to another, spending her days caring for the elderly, rarely stopping to rest. As the long hours blur the boundaries between care and exhaustion, Selvi begins to confront the weight of guilt, love, and survival.
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Shot in and around Chennai over 30 days, the film was written by Rathnakumar and shot by cinematographer Bargav Sridhar, from their observation of the home-care nurses who attended Bargav’s mother through months of critical illness – migrant women from smaller towns in Tamil Nadu, living in modest hostels, working daily in homes nothing like their own.
Rathnakumar, himself a migrant to Chennai from Coimbatore, recognised the tension immediately. “'Selvi’ began by looking at the life of a woman who is constantly present in other people's homes, yet whose own life remains largely unseen. I wanted to stay close to her, not just as a symbol of migration or labour, but simply as observing a woman trying to move through an ordinary day,” adds Sailesh.
Vision - Asia is an expansion of the former Korean Cinema Today - Vision section and is dedicated to introducing the latest in Korean and Asian independent cinema. The new standalone program embraces filmmakers across the entire continent.
Anjali Patil, the film’s lead, also produces “Selvi” under her banner Anahat Films. Founded by her in 2021, Anahat Films is dedicated to creating meaningful stories for both Indian and global audiences, with a slate of diverse productions across fiction and non-fiction formats - which includes "The Moogai" (Sundance 2023) and "Baksho Bondi" (Berlinale 2025). "Selvi" is their first full length Tamil feature.
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