While on academic appointment in Japan, an astrophysicist and his ethics professor wife attend the final performance of retiring flamenco dancer, Mako. Rattled by the magnificence of her dance, the couple invites the renowned artist into their monotonous life, embarking on a precarious journey of reawakened curiosity.
Based on a story by Monona Wali, Hidden Sun is a tender and stirring exploration of marital malaise and repressed desire. From its mesmerizing opening sequence to its delicate finale, two-time IFFLA alum Shuchi Talati’s (A Period Piece, Girls Will Be Girls) seductive storytelling leaves us breathless. Intimately observing a sublime choreography of gesture and gaze, beautifully expressed in the commanding performances of her stellar cast, Talati’s lens sheds light on the body as both a reservoir of pain and repressed emotion and a vehicle for expression and healing.
Shuchi Talati
Indian-born film director and screenwriter Shuchi Talati earned her MFA in Film Directing from the American Film Institute (AFI), where she received the Women In Film Scholarship. Her award-winning short film Mae and Ash, depicting tensions within an open relationship, was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick. A Period Piece, exploring intimacy during menstruation, screened at SXSW. Her debut feature, Girls Will Be Girls (2024), is a coming-of-age story set in a conservative Indian boarding school. It premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Audience Award and the 2025 Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award. The short film Hidden Sun (2025) is her latest work.
