Tokri (The Basket)

Film By Suresh Eriyat

A clumsy accident leads a young girl onto the streets of Mumbai in the hope of making things right. A gentle and touching father/daughter story depicted in exquisite stop-motion from Indian animation mainstay, Studio Eeksauru

The spark for today’s short film came from an everyday experience, simple and mundane. Traversing the crowded streets of Mumbai in his car, animator Suresh Eriyat was approached by a young girl selling baskets.

Eriyat shooed her away—it is assumed by most that the hordes of children who pounce upon motorists at the stoplights of the city are organized by gangs, thus any charity exhibited directly rewards the practice of putting children to work as beggars. Yet, despite the unremarkable nature of this occurrence, Eriyat was struck by guilt. Describing the thoughts that circled his mind, he writes, “What if she was in a precarious situation where she had to sell baskets to bring peace to her home? What if she needed some help from Me? How insensitive of me?” The premise of a story was born, one that would take 8 years to bring to completion. That Tokri should take 8 years to create is in some sense a surprise. One of India’s foremost independent animators, Eriyat is astonishingly prolific, with over 450 completed works in a multitude of styles: stop-motion, 3D, and 2D hand-drawn, among other techniques. Much of this output is commercial work, for which he’s been duly recognized—honors from the Clios and Cannes Lions are on his resumé, as well as the status of being India’s first winner of an Annecy Cristal, but now a decade out from the creation of his own studio alongside his wife, Nilima, Eriyat’s ambition has grown to ever more elaborate personal projects, of which Tokri is the crowning achievement to date.

While a relatively simple story, grounded in the lived experience of India’s destitute, Tokri overflows with detail. The scale of the production is truly remarkable—we adore stop-motion, with over 100 films in our collection, but despite the overwhelming diversity of subjects and styles you’ll encounter while traversing the catalog there are a few commonalities to the majority of them: tight compositions, confined spaces, relatively few characters. These decisions are often right for the story, but they are also a compromise to the pain-staking nature of the craft, an attempt to reduce complexity within scenes. An unusual degree of motion abounds within even simple scenes in Tokri, and Eriyat and his team are unafraid of going wide as well, in shots that seek to depict the cacophony of the Mumbai streetscape and which encompass dozens of moving elements. We always love a good stop-motion timelapse, and the video below gives you a good sense of the undertaking.

Awards & Wins :

– Luchezarny Angel Film Festival
– The 11th Xiamen International Animation Festival
– Filmmakers of the Year Film Festival (FYFF)
– Crossroads Film Festival
– Brroego Springs Film Festival
– 65th National Film Award
– 19th Crossroads Film Festival
– Moscow Shorts April 2018
– Myrtle Beach International Film Festival
– Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF)
– 4th Thessaloniki Animation Film Festival
– 6th Sharjah International Children’s Film Festival ( SICFF )
– International Short Film Festival Kolkata
– Animation Studio Festival
– Palm Springs International Animation Festival, 2018 (PSIAF )
– Short to The Point
– Accolade Global Film Festival
– 19th Digicon 6 Asia Awards
– New Delhi Short Film Festival
– The Smalls Film Festival
– Great Lakes International Film Festival
– Moondance International Film Festival
– Long Island International Film Expo(LIIFE)
– Acharya Tulsi Short Film Festival
– 16 Jaipur International Film Festivals – In Jaipur
– Mexico International Film Festival
– The IndieFest Film Awards
– 60th Cine Golden Eagle Awards for Independent & Emerging Media
– 12th Athens Animfest -2017
– Ficci Baf (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) 2017

Nominations and Official Selections :

– The Ambulante Film festival for the kids section
– Luchezarny Angel
– Indie Meme Film Festival 2019
– New York International Children’s Film Festival (NYICFF )
– Black Movie Film Festival’s
– Kobane International Film Festival
– International animation film festival Tindirindis in Lithuania
– Cinekid Screening Club Invitation
– Filem’On – International Film Festival
– Ojai Film Festival
– Lodz Animation Film Festival
– Banjaluka International Animated Film Festival
– 8th StopTrik IFF (International Stop Motion Competition )
– Krok Film Festival
– Tai Kwun 2018
– Cinema On The Bayou Film Festival
– Tokyo Anime Awards (TAFF) 2018
– Our Fest
– Play Lisbon’s International Kids Film Festival 2018
– 34th Cartoon Club, The INT. Film Festival of Animation Cinema And Comic
– Linoleum Festival
– 8th California International Shorts Festival (Fall)
– Stockholm Experimental Film Festival
– 11th Tehran International Animation Festival
– Académie Des César
– Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) – an Academy Award – Aualifying Festival
– 2017 Kaohsiung Film Festival International Short Film Competition
– 42nd Hong Kong International Film Festival
– New Filmmakers NY
– Bucharest Short Film Festival
– Zubroffka (kids contest) International Short Film Festival
– Irvine International Film Festival
– SIFFCY (Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth)
– Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles IFFLA
– Anilogue International Animation Festival
– 20th International Children’s Film Festival India (ICFFI)
– Paris Courts Devant International Short Film Festival
– Kansas International Film Festival
– Reggio Film Festival
– Kuandu International Animation Festival
– Kaoshing Film Festival International Short Film Competition (KFF)
– Festival Du Film D’Animation Pour la Jeunesse
– KLIk Amsterdam Film Festival
– Route 66 Film Festival
– Hsin-Yi Children’s Animation Awards
– 3D Wire Festival
– Ile Courts International Short Film Festival
– Indie-AniFest
– Fantoche International Animation Film Festival
– Festival International Du Film D’Animation De Paris (PIAFF)
– Woodstock Museum Film Festival
– La Guarimba International Film Festival
– The San Diego International Kids’ Film Festival
– Tandil International Short Film
– Bucheon International Animation Festival
– Anima Mundi 2017
– Supertoon Animation Film Festival 2017
– 9th Edition Montreal stopMotion Animation Film Festival
– 11th River Film Festival (RiFF)
– 57th Zlin Film Festival
– NCCC Film & Animation Festival
– Tokyo Lift-Off Film Festival
– Animation Day in Cannes Accolade
– Cortoons Festival Gandia
– Animakom Fest
– Cartoons on The Bay
– Lucca Film Festival
– Animac International Animation Film Festival of Catalonia
– Festival De Cinema En Famille De
– Arthouse Asia
– London City Film Awards
– North Hollywood Cinefest
– Solo International Film Festival
– Liverpool Film Festival
– Edinburgh Independent Film Awards
– Glasgow International Film Festival
– The Buddha International Film Festival (TBIFF)

Tokri (The Basket)

A clumsy accident leads a young girl onto the streets of Mumbai in the hope of making things right. A gentle and touching father/daughter story depicted in exquisite stop-motion from Indian animation mainstay, Studio Eeksauru

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