Ishan Shukla’s animated characteristic Schirkoa will star Asia Argento (Agony), Golshifteh Farahani (Extraction) and Jim Sarbh (Made in Heaven).
Additionally, the voice cast contains Soko (Little Fish) and Arish Ahmad Khan aka King Khan, frontman of Berlin-based garage rock and psychedelic soul band King Khan and the Shrines, with filmmaker Gaspar Noe (Climax) and actor-musician Piyush Mishra (Sanju) appearing as VO guest stars.
The film tells the story of a bored office worker, who may have accidentally sparked a revolution in a bizarre dystopian world, Schirkoa, where citizens live with paper bags on their heads to dissolve political, cultural and religious differences.
The soundtrack will be composed by Sneha Khanwalkar (Gangs of Wasseypur). Red Cigarette Media, Shukla’s Indian animation studio will produce the English-language feature, which begins production in the spring.
The film is based on Shukla’s 2016 short of the same name that travelled to more than 120 film festivals and earned 30 awards, including prizes at L.A. Shorts Fest, SIGGRAPH Asia, Oaxaca FilmFest and Venice Film Week.