Short film ‘Pink Nights’, on a queer person’s night of freedom, shines at film fests
It is only for a moment, but there is a flicker of emotion crossing the face of the person perched before a laptop, and you realise it is relief. Everything appears ordinary—the routine moments of ending a workday, taking an elevator, going home—until it does not, in Pink Nights, a short film premiering at the NFR Kochi International Film Festival next week. When the film begins, the person is in an office, taking a call, presumably from someone at home, who informs them that no one is going to be home tonight. That’s when the flicker of relief passes across their face. The laptop is closed, the work done for the day, and if you watch closely, there is a slight spring in the step. At home, where a photo of a typical heterosexual couple stands, the person appears to take it slow, pouring a drink and walking through the spacious house, until they go for a shower. That is where the first signs of a change in body language occur, letting even the unobservant viewer take notice. Abhinav Raj, with every small gesture, movement, and even the twitch of a muscle, seems to transform in seconds. In slow, measured steps, the character he plays—in the absence of the partner in the photo—becomes the person they want to be. Abhinav, a theatre actor who has appeared in films like Amaran, Patham Valavu, and Odiyan, plays the trans person in Pink Nights, written and directed by Aasa Ashok. The director’s attention to detail prompts you to go back to earlier scenes and reassess them all over again—of course, the person was not checking out the woman in front of the elevator, they were admiring her heels. The film is only 13 minutes long, but it conveys enough with little. Actor Parvathy Bindu plays the other important character in the film. Pink Nights had its run in a series of festivals, including the 26th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival, the sixth New Wave Festival, and the eighth Adoor International Film Festival, where it won the Best Director and Best Cinematographer awards. It has also been selected for the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival, the International Kolkata Short Film Festival, the Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival, and the NFR Kochi fest of 2025.
IT is only for a moment, but there is a flicker of emotion crossing the face of the person perched before a laptop, and you realise it is relief.
Everything appears ordinary—the routine moments of ending a workday, taking an elevator, going home—until it does not, in Pink Nights, a short film premiering at the NFR Kochi International Film Festival next week.
When the film begins, the person is in an office, taking a call, presumably from someone at home, who informs them that no one will be home tonight. That’s when the flicker of relief passes across their face.
The laptop is closed, the work done for the day, and if you watch closely, there is a slight spring in the step. At home, where a photo of a typical heterosexual couple stands, the person appears to take it slow, pouring a drink and walking through the spacious house, until they go for a shower. That is where the first signs of a change in body language occur, letting even the unobservant viewer take notice.
Abhinav Raj, with every small gesture, movement, and even the twitch of a muscle, seems to transform in seconds. In slow, measured steps, the character he plays—in the absence of the partner in the photo—becomes the person they want to be.
Abhinav, a theatre actor who has appeared in films like Amaran, Patham Valavu, and Odiyan, plays the trans person in Pink Nights, written and directed by Aasa Ashok. The director’s attention to detail prompts you to go back to earlier scenes and reassess them all over again—of course, the person was not checking out the woman in front of the elevator, they were admiring her heels. The film is only 13 minutes long, but it conveys enough with little.
Actor Parvathy Bindu plays the other important character in the film.
Pink Nights had its run in a series of festivals, including the 26th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival, the sixth New Wave Festival, and the eighth Adoor International Film Festival, where it won the Best Director and Best Cinematographer awards.
It has also been selected for the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival, the International Kolkata Short Film Festival, the Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival, and the NFR Kochi fest of 2025.