Anda directed by Jayendra Ganta is a haunting folktale of beauty and obligation. In it, an older woman finds the elixir of youth. It gives her body vitality and her face smoothness for days on end, turning her eyes its custom striking green. Based on a Nordic folktale, this film has a magical rhythm, accentuated by atmospheric music and the revolving settings of forest and home.
Fascinating black-and-white drawings mark the beginning of each chapter. The natural and geometric imagery of these delicate sketches illustrate the rituals which fuel the story, implying an ancient or prophetic knowledge. This mystique of a time before resonates from runes to flashbacks to old wives’ tales.
Anda works beautifully with space, building a home of wood, ceramic, and gas-lit lamps, in contrast with the earthy darkness of the forest, and the lake’s cold vitality.
The protagonist, Norma, starts her day at the kitchen table, practicing language exercises—something Nordic—to a cloth doll. And so Norma begins the central action of the film, by connecting to a culture and time parallel to her present.
Norma, an endearing woman, lives a peaceful life. She has an innocence, a purity that magnetizes the camera to her. Her dissatisfaction emerges around her age. She pays a younger man, Matthew, to spend time with her each week. Matthew, introduced in red, glows with charisma and the invincibility of youth. Sitting by the fire, they talk about crows and remembering faces. Norma asks if he fears nothing. “I don’t know… Maybe getting old,” he says, before an alarm goes off and he leaves her.
Alone, Norma looks in the mirror, unhappily brushing at her face. The answer to her worries—the fabled fountain of youth—is delivered by an unusual connection from her past and comes with new responsibility. Revolving around the elixir are a cast of characters who are not quite hostile. Yet, Norma is never fully safe. “Nothing last, and nothing is free,” warns the rune-tattooed keeper of the potion—Anda’s resident witch—who keeps our heroine in line.
The audience is kept on edge as Norma works to fuel the defiance of time. In a house that is no longer a home, and in a borrowed body, Norma toils to keep demons—new and familiar—at bay. After committing herself to the upkeep of the elixir, her moments enjoying the outside world are few. The cost of youth keeps our heroine in one place, climbing stairs and repeating rituals endlessly, more sedentary than before. Mortality is around the corner… or is the very thing Norma fears already here?
Anda is perfect for lovers of folktales and ghost stories. It will be screening on Sunday, January 25, 2026 – Online for 24 Hours beginning at 12 Midnight Eastern USA time! Get more info and buy tickets here.
The 44th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between January 23-February 22, 2026. The Festival will be a hybrid one as we will be presenting it online as well as doing in-person screenings at Rutgers University. Most of the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VOD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person when both are offered. Also, we will be offering two FREE Filmmaking Workshops! The in-person screenings and the filmmaking workshops will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 1PM, 5PM or 7PM on their show date. General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$120; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program. The Filmmaking Workshops are FREE and open to the public but have limited seating and require advance registration. To register email us at [email protected] For more info on the Film festival go here: https://newjerseyfilmfestivalspring2026.eventive.org/welcome
