Indian producer-distributor Phantom Films has picked up local award-winning documentary Powerless (Katiyabaaz) and will release the film this weekend on 30 screens.

Directed by Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa, the film explores issues such as power supply and bureaucracy through the story of a charismatic electricity thief who supplies his neighbours with illegal power lines. Over the course of a sweltering summer, he takes on local officials including the first female managing director of the Kanpur Electricity Supply Company.

After premiering at the Berlin film festival in 2013, the film travelled to more than 50 festivals and won an Indian National Award for best investigative film. It also won the top award in the India Gold competition at the Mumbai Film Festival last October.

Powerless opens on August 22 on 30 screens across India’s major cities. Several Indian documentaries have recently managed to secure a theatrical release, including The World Before Her, Gulabi Gang, Supermen Of Malegoan and Fire In The Blood, which were all released by PVR Director’s Rare.

Founded by four ground-breaking Indian filmmakers and producers – Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vikas Bahl and Madhu Mantena – Phantom has produced films such as Motwane’s Lootera, Kashyap’s Ugly and Bahl’s female empowerment story Queen.

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