TETHER
Directed by SAMIKSH GHODKE
RUSSIA · 2026 · 16 min · Drama
Submitted to OnShow International Film Festival 2026Synopsis
A young woman revisits her past through a series of counselling sessions, searching for answers in memories of her family and the person who cared for her. As the days accumulate, the boundary between memory and reality begins to unravel.
About the film
A young woman sits across from her therapist, trying to piece together a life that keeps slipping out of focus. A day counter climbs as she returns to the room and to memories that still demand answers: her family, her sister, and Sam, the person who cared for her. Fragments of a car explosion intrude upon her sessions, drawing her back to the trauma she is struggling to understand. As the days accumulate into years, her search for answers becomes a struggle to distinguish what happened from what she needed to believe. Familiar people and moments take on uncertain meanings, leaving her caught between the comfort of remembering and the pain it brings. TETHER follows her through these fractured recollections, asking how tightly we hold onto the people and stories that give our lives meaning, even when we can no longer be certain of them.
Director
Samiksh Ghodke is an Indian writer and filmmaker based in Arkhangelsk, Russia, where he studies medicine at Northern State Medical University. He is the author of the novel Hold Me When I Die. His debut short film, TETHER, which he wrote and directed, is a psychological drama exploring memory, trauma and the uncertain boundary between reality and belief.
Film stills
Publicity materials supplied or expressly authorized by the rights holder. Publication is separate from festival selection.
OnShow International Film Festival — Inaugural Edition · 2026