23 September 2024, Mumbai: Having co-written landmark titles such as The Sky is Pink and Margarita with a Straw acclaimed filmmaker duo Nilesh Maniyar and Shonali Bose’s latest work, a feature documentary, is set to have its world premiere at the prestigious 29th Busan International Film Festival.

The film has been selected for the Wide Angle Documentary Competition section, which highlights unique and inspiring cinematic documentary filmmaking voices from around the globe. In this powerful and heartfelt film directed by the duo, a friendship walks the distance between life and death. With just a week to go before their friend Chika Kapadia’s appointment for physician assisted suicide, Nilesh encourages Shonali to turn the camera on herself too and become part of the story. Alongside editor Tushar Ghogale they weave a profound tale of the choice of dignity in death and friendship. The film is set against the stunning backdrop of Switzerland, a location ironically familiar for many iconic Bollywood films.

Speaking about their selection at Busan, Director Nilesh Maniyar said, “Chika was a friend who gave more than he took. And what a life altering impression he left on me in his last days. Hence it was only apt to tell his story via a lens of friendship that Chika and Shonali shared for 25 long years. With the premiere at Busan, we hope to further the conversation about the right to dignity in death, as in life.”

"Fulfilling Chika’s dying wish and shooting this film has been the hardest challenge of my filmmaking career. This film is my love letter to Chika and to life. I am honoured to premiere it at Busan, a festival that values such deeply personal stories.” Filmmaker Shonali Bose.

A Fly On the Wall marks the third feature film collaboration between Maniyar and Bose presented at the Busan Film Festival, following The Sky Is Pink and Margarita with a Straw. The 29th Busan International Film Festival will take place from October 4 to October 13, 2024.