Best Innovative Budget award for Kush

Shubhashish Bhutiani’s short film "Kush" has been awarded The Best Innovative Budget Award for a foreign film at the 70th Venice Film Festival 2013. The Best Innovative Budget awards an Italian film and a foreign film from the Orizzonte section.
Kush was made on a shoestring budget from private contributions including those made by the film director and other individuals who sacrificed their fees and charges to make the film possible.The director, a student of the School of Visual Arts in New York, was also able to secure three grants from the school, which is quite a feat for a student. Creativity, personal initiative and help from individuals allowed to keep the costs down using real locations. There was also support from the local community which added to the film’s authenticity.
Incidentally, “Kush” is the only Indian film in the competition at the 70th Film Festival. “Kush” is inspired by a true story. 21 year old Bhutiani learnt in the 11th standard about the 1984 riots when Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards, causing anti-Sikh riots to erupt throughout the country. A teacher travelling back from a field trip with her class of 10-year-old students struggles to protect Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, from the growing violence around him.