Tara L. C. Sood is a Franco-Indian filmmaker working between London and India. Her films merge elements of fiction and documentary, employing a cinematic yet distorted lens that often evokes unease. Drawing on archival material and a vivid colour palette, reflective of her Indian heritage, she explores fading art forms and seeks new ways to represent the South Asian diaspora beyond conventional tropes.

‘The Great Mandrake Convention’ unfolds through the staged spectacle of a fictional gathering of India’s renowned magicians. At its core, the film interrogates the nature of magic, not as mere entertainment, but as a profound act of deflection, a play of concealment and revelation that mirrors the illusions of everyday life. Rooted in the philosophies of Maya (illusion as a veil over truth) and Lila (the divine play of creation and destruction), it moves fluidly between documentation and performance, destabilising traditional storytelling and inviting viewers to question not only what they see, but how they see.