SULAIMANI Fiction dir. by Vinnie Ann Bose I France

March, 2026

The Alchemy of Memory:

Vinnie Ann Bose and the Fragrance of Belonging

By Koumoutsi Soultana

The title of Vinnie Ann Bose’s first professional short film, Sulaimani, carries a sensory weight that transcends the culinary. It refers at once to a traditional spiced tea from Kerala—a "digestive" for life's bitter truths—and to a deeper alchemy: the ability of flavor to dissolve the boundaries of geography. In this evocative animation, an Indian restaurant in Paris becomes a liminal space where the steam from homemade banana chips and biryani "releases" the ghosts of the past, transforming a chance dinner into a profound excavation of the self.

Bose treats the animated image as a vessel for the intangible. In Sulaimani, the narrative tension stems from the contrast between the mechanical hum of the Paris Metro and the profound silence of memory. Through a visual language that is both vibrant and visceral, she explores the contrasting trajectories of two women: Alia, who fled the stifling grip of tradition and the pressure of arranged marriages, and Neena, who works exhaustively as a caregiver to provide for the family she left behind.

By eschewing the constraints of realism, Bose utilizes the fluid medium of animation to map the internal topographies of her protagonists. The screen becomes a canvas of "sensory memories," where the warm hues of home collide with the grey reality of life abroad. It is a film that reminds us that "integration" is not a mere bureaucratic process, but a silent battle against erasure and forgetting.

As Sulaimani arrives at the Psaroloco International Film Festival 2026, we speak with Vinnie Ann Bose about the power of the sensory gaze, the nuances of decolonial feminism, and why, in a world demanding rapid assimilation, a single cup of tea can be the most revolutionary act of belonging.

Vinnie Ann Bose

Vinnie Ann Bose, born in Kerala, India, learnt animation film design at NID Ahmedabad. In 2016 she moved to France to join l'école de la Poudrière. After the success of her graduation films “What is your Brown Number?” and “Dimanche Matin”, she directed her first professional short film “Sulaimani”.

The Restaurant as a "Safe Harbor": In the film, the restaurant Sulaimani acts as a space where Paris and India meet. As a filmmaker, how do you perceive the role of sensory memories (like taste and smell) in helping young migrants navigate displacement and find belonging?

Vinnie Ann Bose: I am from Kerala, India, just like the two protagonists of the film, and I moved to France in 2016 at the age of 24. I started writing this story in 2018, 2 years into my new chapter in France. It was a time when I was feeling very homesick, but at the same time feeling more and more comfortable in France. I was questioning my relationship with my identity, my home country India, and this new home in France, my reasons for leaving the home country, and my reasons to want to stay in this new country. These were all tough questions, and there were times when I would crave for some home food to get through difficult days, but there weren’t any restaurants that served Kerala cuisine in the city I lived in. I guess Sulaimani came out of a wish to have a restaurant that served food from Kerala in France.
I believe that food being an important part of one’s culture, helps finding a sense of belonging and identity, despite displacement and uprooting. Just like how one’s emotional state can make one love or hate a certain dish, I feel that sensory memories are extremely powerful and can transport you across time, place and emotions, from the happiest to the darkest thoughts.

“ I feel that sensory memories are extremely powerful and can transport

you across time, place and emotions,

from the happiest to the darkest thoughts.”

— Vinnie Ann Bose

Contrasting Motives for Migration: We see a contrast between Neena, who migrates for family survival, and Alia, who seeks personal freedom. What conversation would you like to spark among young viewers regarding the diverse "weights" women carry when they decide to migrate

V.A.B: Sulaimani to me is a love letter to all strong women who’ve had to make difficult choices in life. Women in general have a weight on their shoulders, and this weight gets heavier and heavier depending on the ways the system and society in which they are in, have failed them. With Sulaimani I wanted to throw light on different trajectories of life. The intention was to show the nuances in feminism, with a decolonial point of view, and an invitation to the audience to be more empathetic and curious about cultures and people different from their own. Alia and Neena are different in many ways, but they’ve both had to make difficult choices, disappoint loved ones, but also surprise themselves by their capacity to take control of their life. I wish for this film to create dialogue around different reasons to migrate or to not migrate. I hope it helps one understand that migration is never easy and never the preferred choice. There is always a reason, and a valid one, and that is what gives one the courage or necessity to take up the challenges of migration and fight through the difficulties of uprooting.

Film aligned with the goals:
SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities): By illuminating the daily struggles of the Indian diaspora in France, the film highlights the silent "micro-aggressions" and the systemic pressure toward cultural assimilation. The work advocates for the preservation of cultural heritage as a vital tool for social inclusion, reminding us that true equality stems from respecting—rather than erasing—difference. SDG 5 (Gender Equality): The film offers a profound, decolonial feminist perspective, shedding light on the diverse "weights" carried by migrant women. From the pursuit of personal autonomy (Alia) to the sacrifice for family survival (Neena), Sulaimani celebrates the agency of women who take control of their own narratives amidst the challenges of uprooting and displacement. SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions): Exploring the internal conflicts triggered by displacement, the film promotes empathy and cross-cultural understanding as the bedrock of a just society. Sulaimani serves as a call for a social framework that honors the human dignity of migrants, transforming the fear of the "other" into curiosity and meaningful dialogue between cultures. SDG 4 (Quality Education): Through Psaroloco’s Media Literacy lens, the film teaches young audiences to decode complex emotions through the artistic direction of animation. It fosters critical thinking regarding the diverse reasons for migration, teaching viewers that behind every statistic of human movement lies a valid, deeply human story that deserves to be heard.

Trailer

The Symbolism of "Sulaimani" Tea: The tea is described as something that "helps soothe everything". In a world demanding quick integration, how can sharing one's cultural heritage become a form of emotional healing for the diaspora?

V.A.B: Sulaimani is a digestive drink to be had after a heavy meal. In this film, Sulaimani serves as a drink to digest the emotions as well. “Integration” into a new country comes with a silent demand to “erase or diminish your culture”, and this creates an interior conflict in most migrants. The micro aggression from the dominant culture of the country, or simply the lack of representation of your culture in the country, are all part of the daily battles of an immigrant. I believe that small acts of sharing and celebrating one’s cultural heritage among the diaspora can help heal such wounds and collectively move towards betterment.

The "Diversity Award" and Animation: Your film received the Jury’s Diversity Award for its pluralistic narrative. How does the medium of animation allow you to reveal the "unseen" memories and internal conflicts of these two women

V.A.B: In my view, the artistic direction in animated films offers a possibility to enhance the poetic aspect in films. The visual diversity that animation offers through its colors, character designs, styles etc, brings out the uniqueness in the film maker’s vision. All of this added to the subtlety, nuances and non-realistic visuals that are possible to bring to screen with animation, makes it a powerful medium to express human emotion, I feel. For example, in Sulaimani, the colors used in the memories, which are unrealistic, exaggerated and flashy, were chosen deliberately to support the emotion that the character was living at the moment.

Making Of

MEDIA LITERACY INSIGHT

Why "The Spectacle" is a vital case study for our readers:

The Poetics of Animation as Emotional Truth: The film serves as a profound lesson on how animation can capture the "unseen." By utilizing unrealistic colors and exaggerated textures in the memory sequences, Bose demonstrates how cinema can convey subjective, emotional truth beyond the constraints of live-action realism.
Deconstructing "Integration": In a world that often demands cultural homogenization, Sulaimani deconstructs the notion of rapid assimilation. It challenges the audience to ask: Is integration a process of mutual enrichment, or is it a silent demand for the erasure of the "other’s" personal and cultural identity?
Sensory Language as Narrative Strength: Contrasting with the information-heavy nature of the digital age, the film uses the senses (taste, smell, steam) to foster empathy. It offers an excellent entry point for discussing how "sensory memory" can act as a bridge, allowing the viewer to experience the weight of displacement not as a statistic, but as a visceral human reality.
The Plurality of the Migrant Narrative: The film shatters stereotypes of a "one-size-fits-all" migration story by presenting two distinct female trajectories (survival vs. freedom). It provides young audiences with the tools to analyze how media often oversimplify migrant stories, ignoring the nuances and personal agency that make every journey unique.