7th Chennai Film Festival 2019: 9 Pencimackal - Curated by Archana Padmini

7th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2019
6-10 Feb; jointly organised by MARUPAKKAM & Goethe-Institut, Chennai 

‘9 Pencinemakal’ : A Package of Nine Visual Experiences from Women 

Curated by Archana Padmini
Minimal Cinema

Screening Schedule

Every single film in this package of nine Malayalam short fictions is a different experimental attempt in the language of cinema. In the realm of cinematic visual language, they are a step ahead in their craft and narratives. Though, independent expressions of Malayali women from various socio-cultural backgrounds, every bit of this package do demonstrate an honest approach towards cinema as an art form. Regardless of their differences in storytelling, content, craft and inherent politics, all of them drew me to them as a viewer, owing to their genuineness in expression. Appreciating and celebrating gender equality is as important as discussing it. Thus, here we are creating a space for woman filmmakers and thereby bringing gender sensitivity in to the semantics of filmmaking.

Archana Padmini is an actor,  curator,  selector,  director,  film society activist,  film festival organiser and a researcher from Kochi,  Kerala.

1. Catharsis  Dir: Indira; 35 min The film is mapping out the malady of political vendetta in Kerala which rips through the ethos of democracy. As the orgy of violence, fanned to ogreish flames by political parties, is unleashed with impunity, the existential angst of a common man breeds pity and fear. The victims, caught in ideological cross-fire, are ironically hailed as martyrs who slide into oblivion waving the flag of hatred, animosity and vengeance. Those left behind, the grief-stricken families, are consigned to eternal suffering and anguish.

A film committed to stirring the political conscience of our time, Catharsis is a plea for sanity.

2. INSIDE 

Dir: Sreedevi; 13 min

An old woman is living her past in her present. Memories are still fresh and kept her always at the past days. Nowadays she keeps playing with those memories and keeps getting in touch with them. 

It is a journey for the answers for her questions and memories.

3. INDU

Dir: Anagha Anand; 29 min

'INDU’ is a short fiction film set in a small town in Kerala, INDIA. A nineteen year old girl, Indu, attends a girl’s college and majors in English. Here, she meets Balachandran, her English Literature professor. The film is about the romance that she develops for him and the consequences she faces after she feels the intensity of unrequited love.

4. Njaval Pazhangal  Dir: Jeeva KJ ; 23 min Childhood is always like that, they approach everything without any prejudices until they are intervened by external influences. Appu and Ammu were also under this nature's law. They had a childhood that mingled with the tremulous black fishes, nostalgic days awakened by the soaring sourness of black Janine, monsoon that warmed by the softness of black kitties.. But the society grew them up in such a way that people are judged by the external appearance  and complexion as they are the markers of class, cast and creed. Everyone keeps that hierarchy everywhere. Everyone praises the nobility of fair complexion. 5. Ruchibhedham Dir: Theertha Mythry; 10:20 min The film is a slice of life drama between two sisters who find themselves at odds with each other whilst making their mother's recipe of mambazha pullissery. 6. Ore Udal  Dir: Asha Achy Joseph; 14 min Traumatised and unable to face life after a physical assault a nun looks into herself for answers. Her body and mind are dejected. Her faith, spirituality and being are at stake. The film is a sojourn of a woman through her own hallucinations and despair for hope after the harrowing violence of a life time. 7. Rhythm Dir : Sivaranjini ; 28 min Every film is an autobiography. Everyone has that one story; You run away from it but it chases you down. Rhythm is one such story. It's the same story of life which has been repeating over and again.The past and the future looks one and the same when you are here.Time freezes and space stay motionless. The only truth is this very moment and us. 8. Gi' Dir : Kunjila Mascillamani; 30 min Gi and her grandfather who are originally from Kerala live in Kolkata, West Bengal. They are dealing with different planes of memory, abuse and pain while trying to make peace with the city and its people. 9. Eye Test Dir: Sudha Padmaja Francis; 15:30 min Eye Test is a short fiction film which explores the affective atmosphere of a mother-daughter relationship, death and bereavment through the realm of memory, following her own mother’s death a few years back. The narrative delves into the mindscape of the 27 year old Nivedita when she visits an eye clinic. The eye clinic territory transforms into a sensorial one for her, invoking memories of her single mother and her own lonely childhood.