“It Lives Inside” Screening

An audience waits for the screening of "It Lives Inside" to start at an auditorium in Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design, Santa Monica, Calif. on Sept. 15, 2023. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

An audience waits for the screening of "It Lives Inside" to start at an auditorium in Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design, Santa Monica, Calif. on Sept. 15, 2023. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

A crowd gathers in the lobby of Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design, Santa Monica, Calif. on Sept. 15, 2023. They are waiting for the screening of the feature film "It Lives Inside" to start. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

A group converses among themselves in the lobby of Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design, Santa Monica, Calif. on Sept. 15, 2023. They are waiting for the screening of the feature film "It Lives Inside" to start. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

Santa Monica College (SMC) Head of Film Program and Film Director Salvador Carrasco speaks in front of an audience before the screening of "It Lives Inside" in Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design, Santa Monica, Calif. on Sept. 15, 2023. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

A Debut Feature Film Directed by SMC Alum Bishal Dutta

On Friday, Sept. 15 Santa Monica College’s (SMC) Film Production Program held a preview screening of “It Lives Inside,” a supernatural horror film written and directed by SMC alum Bishal Dutta. The showing was followed by a Q&A with Dutta and moderated by “Breaking The 180” podcast hosts Alci Rengifo and Sebastian Carrasco. 

“It Lives Inside” tells the story of Sam, an American teenager who rejects her Indian heritage in order to fit in with her peers. When Sam’s former best friend Tamira gets kidnapped by an ancient Indian demonic force, it is up to Sam to save her. Unfortunately, the evil entity begins to target Sam by destroying her sanity with terrifying visions. 

“It Lives Inside” is Dutta’s debut feature film. Previously, he has directed 19 short films and received six awards from various international film festivals such as the Silicon Beach Film Festival and from The American Pavillion Emerging FIlmmakers Showcase program at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

 “In 2013, the then-president of the college, Dr. Chui Tsang, asked me to present him with a document stating where I saw our program a decade later. If everything goes as planned, I wrote, we should be watching the first crop of successful feature films made by our graduate students in ten years,” Film Production faculty lead Salvador Carrasco said in his introductory speech. 

Carrasco’s prediction came true: “It Lives Inside” is set for release by Neon, a major film production company that has launched works such as “I, Tonya”, “Spencer”, and “Infinity Pool”. 

The event has attracted a large number of SMC students, with many being Film Production majors. “My dream is to make a movie one day, and I came out tonight because I thought it was a good learning opportunity,” said film student Yunyeong Jung. 

Another film major, Luis Lubbers, attended the screening at the recommendation of his cinematography teacher. “Professor Solanki told us that this movie was made by a former SMC student, and that got me interested in seeing it. Also, my roommate filmed the Q&A tonight,” said Lubbers. 

“It Lives Inside” debuted at the South by Southwest film festival last March, and is set to start playing in theaters on Sept. 22, 2023. The film was well received by critics, and currently holds an 83% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Running time is 99 minutes, and the rating is PG-13.