(Babu Eshwar Prasad, India, 2015, 96mins) A unique cinematic experience, Gaalibeeja is a visually arresting meditation on cinema and modernity by artist-turned-filmmaker Babu Eshwar Prasad–an exciting new voice in Kannada-language cinema.

Prakash, a civil engineer by day and a cinephile by night, lives on the road, traveling to inspect his many projects. His encounters along the way–a peddler of pirated DVDs, a farmer at a highway bus stop, and a labourer on his bicycle–form the backbone of this idiosyncratic film.

While the paths of these diverse characters intersect and interrupt one another, it becomes clear that they each live in a vastly different time and space–one that is shaped by class and access to progress. While paying homage to the likes of Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, and Abbas Kiarostami, Prasad blends social critique with exquisite cinematic form in his take on the “road movie.”