Cinema Conservancy presents Removal of the Eye, a bold experiment in autobiographical filmmaking from writer-directors Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan. The film, which premiered at Baltimore’s New/Next Film Festival and the 2025 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, stars the filmmakers alongside their infant son and Katerina Shaw, Shaw’s mother.

Inspired by the cultural clash that took place after moving into the same Manhattan apartment building as Shaw’s parents shortly before their son’s birth, filmmakers Shaw and Kamalakanthan turn the lens on themselves as new parents Kallia and Ram—roles that they originated in their award-winning lo-fi comedy New Strains (2023 IFFR Special Jury Award winner) that represent loose alternative versions of themselves. At their wits’ end with their sleepless baby, Kallia and Ram realize Kallia’s Greek mother is on a secret mission to exorcise the family from the evil eye. Trapped between the pressures of New Age parenting, old-world superstitions, and meddling in-laws, they fight to hold on to their dreams and aspirations. 

Struck by a lack of authentic films about new parenthood and the world of infants more generally, the married filmmaking couple sought to capture the experience of making a movie while in the midst of childcare. Further adapting to real-life conditions, the film incorporated the needs of Shaw’s mother, who suffers from a neurological disorder and blindness. Shot over three months in and around their New York apartment with improvised dialogue and no crew, the production worked around the baby’s schedule and the filmmakers’ day jobs.

Film Comment celebrated the film in their IFFR coverage, praising it for its “manic mix of post-millennial humor and urban-romantic anxiety” and stating how “Shaw and Kamalakanthan use the cultural and creative nuances of their mixed-race partnership (they are of Greek and Indian descent, respectively) to craft a modern-day domestic comedy with surprisingly fresh insights into parenting in a post-Pandemic world of Zoom meetings and homebound artistic expression.”

Shot and edited by Kamalakanthan, the film’s visual approach captures both the innocent perspective of a baby experiencing the world for the first time, as well as that of Katerina Shaw, whose neurological disease impairs her visual perception. Composer Will Epstein (New Strains) joins the duo once again, and Shaw produced. 

The film will have its New York Premiere on Wednesday, February 4 (Nitehawk Williamsburg) and screen Thursday, February 5 (Nitehawk Prospect Park) and Friday, February 6 (Roxy Cinema), with a Los Angeles Premiere set for Thursday, February 12 at 2220 Arts, presented by Mezzanine.

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