I, Poppy - IFFDAY

Official selectionBusan Cinephile Award

Family/ChildTrue StoryEnvironment/Nature

This documentary follows a family navigating survival, compromise, justice, and resistance in Rajasthan, India, where opium poppy cultivation has been officially legalized. While the mother carefully tends to the poppies, a corrupt licensing system and government officials’ demands for bribes threaten their livelihood. In defiance, the son exposes narcotics officers, resulting in their imprisonment. Yet as a result, the family loses their farming license, deepening their hardship. The director, who has been documenting the family’s daily life and acts of resistance over a long period, skillfully juxtaposes the stillness of poppy fields with the tensions of resistance and violence, exploring multilayered themes, including the absurdities of the caste system, institutional corruption, and fractured family ties. In doing so, the film quietly captures the history of exploitation and resistance behind the crops controlled by the state. Named the Best International Feature Documentary at Hot Docs, the largest documentary film festival in North America, this documentary is one of the most notable works of the first half of 2025.

Programme note by JO Ji-hoon