Bittu

The inexhaustible energy of childhood skips and cartwheels through writer/director Karishma Dev Dube's dramatisation of a tragedy that unfolded in an Indian primary school in 2013.

Her focus is on the friendship between Bittu (Rani Kumari), a snotty-faced rebel who just wants to have fun, and her more studious classmate Chand (Renu Kumari) on a fateful day in school. Dube is helped enormously by her skilful sister Shreya behind the camera - who brought moody monochrome to Indian indie Cat Sticks and here takes a loose and immediate approach to capturing the children, getting down to their level in the classroom as they take an English lesson.

The day hinges on tiny things that could happen anywhere - a swiped pot of ink, a pinkie promise of friendship, a dismissive attitude from the headteacher - but that have a devastating impact.

Dube scripts the kids with naturalism and Saurabh Saraswat also responds well to the spontaneity of the children in his role as the school's teacher. It's hard to explore ideas of conformity and rebelliousness to a large degree in a short film and Dube's drama has the feel of a testing ground, itching to be opened out into a feature format where the themes could take fuller shape. This is especially true of the film's climactic moment, which though interestingly handled in a way that avoids sensationalism, nevertheless feels rushed compared to what has gone before.