This film reconstructs the tumultuous life of author Saadat Hasan Manto through the main concerns and phrases in his works, as seen through filmmaker Nandita Das’s own sensibility and gaze. She uses specific fictional elements such as child prostitution, an abusive pimp, and women as tools, to represent the writer’s inner demons and confusion in a unique narrative format. At times it seems theatrical in its B&W tones, and in a more dramatic manner, it displays the writer’s life as his works embody him, while this contrast of light and darkness leads the audience into a richer realm of imagination and fantasy. Selected for the Asian Project Market, a platform for seeking co-production possibilities and investors, Manto is the latest work from a director who is attracting worldwide attention. It will be a great opportunity to discover the imaginative colors created out of the superb B&W tones of light and darkness and the director’s own “Manto” breathing like an illusion within this realm. (Jung Jin-a)