Set during the summer holidays of the year 2000, AMRIT tells the story of how a 12-year-old boy from Leicester copes with losing his father, name, Sikh religion, family and identity after a sudden accident forces his mother to move him and his younger sister 300 miles away to Edinburgh. In his happy “samosas and ketchup for breakfast” dual-heritage home in Leicester, the young boy is totally in awe of the routines and rituals of his Sikh faith and he considers his turbaned, bearded father as the finished product at the end of his own very clear cultural trajectory. Yet when his father dies in a sudden accident and his mother has no choice but to abruptly move him and his sister to Scotland, he finds he has an enormous void that he has to try desperately to fill – leading him to shed his obsolete Sikh identity in a spiral of deceptive assimilation and reinvention.
Inspired by real events from the writer / director’s life.
Rory Bentley is a writer / director based in London. In 2016 he co-wrote and shot the Straight 8 first prize winner JAMELLA, starring Jamie Demetriou, and in 2018 he was assistant to Paul King (PADDINGTON) in pre-production on a Disney feature film. His first crewed and budgeted independent short film VARKEN (2017) premiered at Academy / BAFTA recognised festivals worldwide. His latest independent short, BELONGING (2019) – a proof of concept for AMRIT – is currently in the festival circuit and was part of the Official Selection at the 73rd Edinburgh International Film Festival. In 2019 he was selected as one of Film London’s Lodestars, a new initiative showcasing the brightest upcoming cinematic talent in the capital. He is a BFI x BAFTA Crew member.
You can watch the trailer for Rory’s short film BELONGING on our watch player.
Elizabeth Middleton (producer)
Elizabeth Middleton is an emerging producer with extensive experience working in the film and television industry. With a background in development and production, Elizabeth has worked in theatrical acquisitions, story development, film and TV production investment as well as being a team coordinator for Icon Film Distribution, Screen Australia and BBC Studios London. At Causeway Films, Elizabeth assisted Kristina Ceyton, Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky on Jennifer Kent’s award-winning feature THE NIGHTINGALE before moving to MGM to assist producers Alison Owen, Roger Birnbaum and Ilona Herzberg on the feature comedy THE HUSTLE. Currently Elizabeth is working as the Development Executive for Gurinder Chadha’s extensive film and television slate, with projects that focus on female protagonists, inclusivity and diversity. Elizabeth is the producer of the short film BELONGING which screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival June 2019.