Official Selection
Diya
An girl arrives in India, carrying her luggage off a rickshaw. She looks around and notices a booth where people are lighting diyas (oil lanterns). Awkwardly, she waits for the people at the booth to leave, and then excitedly approaches. Taking a deep breath, she goes through the ritual of lighting a diya, only for her flame to light blue instead of yellow. Surprised, she looks around, noticing that everyone else has yellow flames. She tries to cover her flame, only for it to come to life! It tries to show off and shine bright, but the girl is distracted by some aunties approaching. She quickly hides the flame behind her back as she gets bombarded by the aunties aggressive affection. The flame tries to get the girls attention, but is unsuccessful and turns around to sulk. It then notices the large bonfire and escapes from the girl's diya while she is distracted. The girl sees the flame heading towards the bonfire and panics! She excuses herself from the aunties, who shake their heads disapprovingly, to chase the flame. The girl awkwardly fumbles her way through a street and follows the flame into a sari store. She admires the space as she walks through, but she trips and spills fabric all over the place. As she cleans up, she tries on one of the saris, only for it to fall off her. At that moment, the flame appears from behind the mirror and runs behind some curtains. The girl hurriedly cleans up and runs after the flame. She chases the flame through people dancing, however she is too slow and the flame jumps into the bonfire. The girl is horrified as the bonfire turns from yellow to blue, and the crowd stares on in shock. As the girl sobs, someone from the crowd helps her up and shows her that she is not the only one with different coloured flames. Reassured that she is not alone, the girl approaches the bonfire and asks for her flame to return to her. It does, and she is surrounded by others who are just like her, with unusual coloured flames, and she is not alone.