Visakhapatnam filmmaker’s short film ‘Signal’ heads to Cannes and Academy
| Photo Credit: BY ARRANGEMENT
Visakhapatnam-born filmmaker Sagi Sree Hari Varma’s short film ‘Signal’, shot entirely on an iPhone in black and white, is set to be screened at the 79th Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film, the festival’s international film market, on May 15, 2026, and later at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles on June 9, as part of the Gold Rising Programme’s 10th Anniversary Opening Day.Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Varma described the journey of ‘Signal’ as surreal and said that the project began as a proof-of-concept for a larger feature-length techno-horror film he has been developing over the past two years. “The short film was initially meant to help me pitch the feature version to studios and investors. We never imagined it would travel this far,” he said.The 2-minute-54-second film, conceived as a “techno-horror theatrical experience”, explores a world plunged into chaos after the collapse of digital connectivity. Made during Varma’s participation in the CinemadaMare filmmaking fellowship in Italy, the film is led by Swedish actor Olivia Hoy and shot in a single take on an iPhone, a choice Mr. Varma describes not as a limitation but as the most effective tool for a film that needed to move fluidly through multiple locations in one continuous sequence.
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