Sapna Moti Bhavnani had a dream when she was 13 or 14 Carrie (1976), Brian De Palma’s elemental horror classic. In that film’s iconic opening sequence, Sissy Spacek’s socially awkward schoolgirl gets her first period in the gym shower. A few days after watching that, Bhavnani got her first period in school itself. “It was insane because I thought I was going to burn down the whole school,” she recalls.
This union of cinematic memory and physical change forged a lifelong obsession with horror. In 2021, Bhavnani, a renowned hairstylist and filmmaker, started the Wench Film Festival (‘wench’, meaning ‘girl’ or ‘country girl’, adopted derogatory, sexual connotations in the Middle Ages). After two massive online editions through the pandemic, Bhavnani has finally brought out the vent in full: The physical edition is screening 23 films between March 17-19 at Harkat Studios and Ved Factory in Mumbai ( There are also online viewings as of March 20).
A scene from the film ‘Husera: The Bone Woman’ opening at the 2023 Wench Film Festival
Although Wench started off as a spotlight for women directors, Bhavnani has continued to open up the scope. The latest edition is screening Indian and international films in the horror, sci-fi and fantasy genres, and includes BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour), non-binary and LGBTQ+ women filmmakers. It also includes two male directors. “I am anti-label,” insists Bhavnani. “Last year we had a men’s section but this year we are not splitting. They are competing in the same category.
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Beyond the movies, the horror-themed mixer is an edge-of-the-seat treasure trove of performances and emotion. Last year, she organized a vampire wedding at the end of a screening (“I told everyone to dress up as guests”). This time, he has arranged a masterclass by horror veteran Vikram Bhatt; a dance poetry act with film walking with desire, a live-score screening of a trip to the moon (1902) by multi-instrumentalist Sid Couto.
The era of Sid Couto live-scoring Georges Méliès is ‘a trip to the moon’
Later in October, he will have H6LLB6ND6R (a New York-based metal band that also produced the 2021 horror film) Hellbender) Open Disco Blood Bath, Wench’s flagship Halloween showcase. This isn’t even the half of what Bhavnani has envisioned for the future. “I wish we could start with an exorcism next time. Or invite some ‘outside’ witches (women break the stigma of witchcraft). I tried to organize it online so it was a safe space but they refused.
Vivek Rangachari, Bollywood producer and head of business and development at Venture, agrees that it lacks Imagination-style film festivals in India. The reasons are many – a desolate indie scene, limited exhibition space, the lack of a sustainable fan culture around domestic horror. “Horror festivals are huge in the West,” says Vivek. “It is a genre that yields the highest ROI – American low-budget banner Blumhouse being a primary example. Indian horror, in contrast, has yet to break through widely.
movies like Nightingale And Tumbbad (Screening in Wench as well) which made a difference,” adds Sapna. “Plus some slapstick horror comedy. But for a large part of the world, India is still Ramsej.
A scene from Alice Wadding’s ‘The Nightmare’, concluding film in Wench
Megha Ramaswamy Lallanna’s song (a surreal head-spinner) and Aarti Kadav astronaut and his parrot (a sci-fi short starring Ali Fazal) Wench’s Indian features. Bhavnani’s own film, my dog is sick, an experimental horror-fantasy, also premiered at Wench, but out of competition. Meanwhile, his third script—titled bear man-is part of the Sundance collab (produced by Vivek). Bhavnani points out that both films include hair as a scary element – a confluence of her two big preoccupations in life.
“I was made to do it,” she laughs.