Four startling shorts examine the limits of human desire in the face of life and death:

A nun hides her daughter in a monastery against the army’s advance, and attempts to move past the memories of civil war, in this visually sublime short Ennakum Oru Per (I Too Have a Name, 2012, USA/Sri Lanka, 12 mins, in Sinhalese and Tamil with English subtitles). Official selection at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival.

Chandi’s mother is dying. When the local doctor can’t help, Chandi turns to the Tantrik holy man, who demands a terrible price in return for her mother’s life, in Smita Bhide’s unforgettable Another Planet (2011, UK, 26 mins, in English and Marathi with English subtitles). Winner of Best Short at the 2012 International Film Festival of India, Goa.

Shilpa Munikempanna’s Kaveri (2011, India, 19 mins, in Kannada with English subtitles) is a simple story of two sisters transformed into a moving experience. 13 year old Kaveri is on the threshold of womanhood. Engulfed by the vastness of the adult world, she searches for the gesture that provides hope. Watch Trailer.

An eco-thriller set in a parched post-apocalyptic future, where water has become a scarce and invaluable commodity, Abhishek Pathak’s Boond (A Drop, 2009, India, 27 mins, in Hindi with English subtitles) tells the story of a desperate young mother and her son who are forced to take up the gun in order to protect their well. Watch Trailer.

pictured above: Suba Sivakumaran’s I Too Have a Name