Chandan Gomes

A young woman finds herself into a psychiatric hospital after the sudden disappearance of her lover. Inside its sterile walls, she begins to drift between memory and delusion, haunted not only by loss but by the fragile echo of who she once was. Alma is a poetic exploration of psychosis, grief, and the ambiguous terrain of healing—where the line between sanity and madness blurs with every breath. Set almost entirely within the confines of a mental health institution, the film evokes the quiet violence of restraint and the longing for connection in a world that pathologizes feeling.

As reality fractures and rebuilds itself through her eyes, Alma becomes a meditation on the elusive boundary between what is considered normal and what is not—and the cost of that distinction. Tactile, lyrical, and quietly devastating, Alma resists diagnosis and instead asks: what if the deepest wounds don’t want to be cured, only heard?

Writer & Director: Chandan Savio Gomes

Language: English

Runtime: 12 minutes

Country: India

Year: 2024

Genre: Psychological Drama / Experimental

Status: Completed

Format: Digital | Stereo | 1.85:1

ACCOLADES & RECOGNITION

• Always Late TV Movie Awards — USA

• Third Culture Film Festival — New Zealand

• Kalakari Film Festival — India 

• Best International Short Film (Experimental) — Multicultural Mental Health Film Festival, Australia

• Best Indian Short Film & Best Experimental Film — Indian Independent Film Festival

• Award Winner — Tamizhagam International Film Festival, India

• Award Winner — Kollywood International Film Festival, India

• Award Winner — Crown Wood International Film Festival, India

• Award Winner — Indian Independent Film Festival, India

• Honorable Mention — Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival (AIMAFF), Greece