Nilanadukkam, a Tamil film directed by debutant Balaji Vembu Chelli, will premiere at one of the oldest and prestigious film festivals in Canada, the 49th Montreal Festival Du Nouveau Cinema. This event is scheduled to happen between October 7 and 18. It is in fact a prestigious honour for the filmmaker as Nilanadukkam will be the first-ever Tamil film to be screened at this fest.
According to the film’s director Balaji Vembu Chelli, Nilanadukkam is an experimental film set in Kukkal, a village 40 kilometres away from Kodaikanal. The film delves on a catastrophe and the mystery surrounding it. Speaking about the film in an interview to the Times of India, the director had said, “It revolves around a rookie photojournalist who is trying to get his first major break. The photojournalist is played by Rajeev Anand, who was the lead in Manusangada. A few theatre artistes and some locals from Kukkal have acted in the film.”
On the screening, the director said, “It will be screened in the Temps section, a competition section, and the film will be eligible for an audience award. It is a section that encourages experimental films. The exact screening date of the film is yet to be announced.” Besides Nilanadukkam, the section will also have films by famous filmmakers such as Gaspar Noé, Abel Ferrara and the late Dennis Hopper.
Though it is a proud moment for Balaji Vembu Chelli that his film is premiering at the film fest, it is sad that he could not go there in person. The pandemic has forced the event organiser to opt for hybrid screening, said the director in the interview. He was quoted as saying that the organisers will be allowing only the locals to attend the screenings at the theatres and other festival attendees will be allowed to watch the films online.
The technical crew of Nilanadukkam comprises Vedaraman Sankaran as the cinematographer, Dorai Prakash SA as the editor, and Maarten Visser has composed the tunes for the film. The star cast of this film includes Rajeev Anand as the lead actor with Sasi Kumar Sivalingam, Semmalar Annam, Suthan Rajj, Babu Ram, and Vengadessin Ezhumalai forming the supporting cast. The film is bankrolled by its director Balaji Vembu Chelli in association with Vivek Krishna Ramanujam, and Mathivanan Rajendran.
Incidentally, the only other south Indian film to be screened at the Montreal Festival Du Nouveau Cinema was the Malayalam movie Jallikattu which was screened at this fest last year. The film, which was based on the short story Maoist penned by S Hareesh, was directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery with Antony Varghese playing the lead role. Vinayakan and Sabumon Abdusamad were also part of the star cast.
Jallikattu was bankrolled by Thomas Panicker under his banner. S Hareesh in association with R Jayakumar has penned the screenplay for this venture. The technical crew of this film comprised of Girish Gangadharan for cinematography and Deepu Joseph for editing.
(Content provided by Digital Native)