From award-winning director Santosh Sivan (The Terrorist, Before the Rains), Tahaan is a stunningly shot, fable-like story set in scenic but strife-ridden Kashmir. The regional conflict is used as the backdrop for the story of eight-year-old Tahaan, who tries to gain back his beloved pet donkey that has been sold along with his family’s possessions to pay the family debt. With his father missing in action for three years, Tahaan lives with his older sister, his loving grandfather and mute mother, but is left more or less on his own to wander village and countryside, navigate border checkpoints and negotiate with merchants and money lenders in an effort to regain his lost pet. More than a conflict movie, this is a film about striving, finding life-purpose and, finally, of right and wrong as Tahaan is recruited by a young militant to throw a grenade into an army compound, building up to a heart-thumping (but thankfully non-tragic) final scene. Like Sivan’s earlier films, Tahaan is told with warmth, humor and simple honesty. Gorgeous cinematography offers breathtaking views of Kashmir’s snow-covered mountain passes and shimmering lakes, and a recurring encounter with a group of mystic Sufi singers provide a compellingly exotic musical bed. Preceded by short Fuggy Fuggy.

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Recommended for ages eight and up. (105 min, in Hindi with subtitles)