'Shavam' (2015), a dark comedy directed by Don Palathara around the death of Thomas Ittikora, a young man and how his pre-funeral ceremony turns up is now available on online streaming service Netflix.
Produced by 'Travancore Films', the 63-minute long film won the Best Foreign Film Award at the Barni International Festival, Moscow as well as being selected for other international festivals.
'Shavam' was made on a shoestring budget of Rs 7 lakh and was shown mainly through Kazhcha Film Forum's 'Cinema Vandi'.
The 'Cinema Vandi', extensively travelling through Kerala, screened the movie in various film societies, clubs and institutions.
Later online movie streaming service 'Reelmonk' took up the film, offering it to viewers for a nominal fee.
Written and directed by Don Palathara, the film's cast includes Francis Borgia, Athira Sukumaran, Deepa Divakar.
Prathap Joseph has handled cinematography while Shanavas Naranipuzha edited the film. Sandeep Kurissery and Jiji Joseph has scored music for 'Savam'.
Don Palathara's second film, 'Vithu' (Seed) was financed through crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter.
Recently, another award winning Malayalam film, 'Kanyaka Talkies' by KR Manoj was taken up by Netflix.
As of now, Netflix's Malayalam film list includes award winning productions like Jayaraj's 'Ottaal', 'Chayam Pooshiya Veedu'.
Synopsis: Shavam is a feature length experimental film that explores the behaviour of a group of people gathered at a funeral. The plot is set up at a middle class catholic family in rural Kerala.
There are friends, neighbours and relatives of Thomas Ittikkora gathered for the pre-funeral ceremonies at his home.
As the camera travels through the various characters, it reveals the lack of sincerity that’s present in many of them.
From a group of men using the situation to have a few drinks to the priest who blames the dead person for not giving money to the church, the film attempts to point a finger at the hypocrisy that’s innate in almost all characters.
Shavam is an attempt to communicate through cinema without the use of a story.