Shashank Walia on How ‘Birds in the Dark’’s Two Wins at BIFF Affect Its Future: ‘Awards Definitely Bring Visibility’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Punjabi-language independent film “Birds in the Dark” surprised the audience and the jury alike at the 2026 Busan International Film Festival. Following its world premiere in the Vision – Asia section at the 31st BIFF, the black-and-white production managed to grab the Songwon Vision Audience Award – Asia and the New Currents Award for director Shashank Walia.

Keeping the momentum running, the film closed out the 15th Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) on November 1. On the heels of his festival run, filmmaker Walia spoke to Variety India about making his feature film debut and whether winning two awards has made a difference.

Admitting that it’s quite early to notice a tangible change, Walia opens up on the recent developments, “One starts getting certain emails from different festivals that they're interested. Some sales agents also begin to approach you. One gets emails from different territories for distribution and exhibition. Certain film festivals also approach you. So the awards definitely bring some visibility.” He adds that it remains to be seen if the wins will affect the film’s future.

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The team continues to be hopeful that all the festival attention will turn into something substantial in the coming months, including getting a theatrical release. “The possibility definitely opens up. Because the film won the Audience Award and also the Best Debut Director, which are of great importance.”

On how it was received in Busan, Walia, who is also the writer and cinematographer of the film, shares that being culturally rooted in its landscape did not deter the audience from appreciating it and neither did the language barrier. “It deals with very local aspects and is in Punjabi with a little bit of Kashmiri and Urdu. It talks about people from a very specific region. We wondered if it will resonate with an audience that has a very different culture. But the film really resonated there. And I think that's the power of film.”

However, the celebratory response from Busan has been surprising, he says, making the wins all the more special, “The award is the most important aspect for me. Because it's coming from a space that is very different. And a completely different kind of film has been given that sort of attention and recognition. So it really matters.”