Writer-director Chidambaram's survival drama Manjummel Boys will be screened at the KinoBravo Film Festival. It is the first-ever Malayalam film to compete at the festival, as well as the only Indian film to feature in its competition section this year.
Running from September 28 to October 04, the festival will also screen Payal Kapadia's Cannes Grand Prix winner All We Imagine As Light and SS Rajamouli's RRR at the Out of Competition: Festival Hits and the Out of Competition: Blockbuster Hits categories, respectively.
Recognised as the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time, Manjummel Boys is a survival drama that tells the true story of a group of youngsters from Manjummel, Kochi, who go to the Guna Caves, also called Devil's Kitchen in Kodaikkanal. Their excursion soon becomes a hellish trip following an accident.
The film stars Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Deepak Parambol, Jean Paul Lal, Ganapathi, Balu Varghese, Deepak Parambol, George Maryan, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, and Khalid Rahman, among others.
Besides Chidambaram's writing and direction, the film earned widespread acclaim for the cinematography by Shyju Khalid, production design by Ajayan Chalissery, Vivek Harshan's editing, and Sushin Shyam's music. It also got great appreciation for the inventive use of the 'Kanmani Anbodu' song from Kamal Haasan's 1991 film Gunaa.
Soubin Shahir, Babu Shahir, and Shawn Antony produced the film through their banner Parava Films.
Coming to KinoBravo, it is a mainstream film festival with a mission to bring to the broad public national blockbusters that topped the box offices in their home countries, promote those films in the Russian and international markets, and strengthen international cooperation in cinematography.
Prizes will be awarded in nine nominations: Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Film Music, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Editing.
The films will be judged by a multinational jury headed by chairman Marco Müller, a film critic, film historian, producer, head of the Center for Film Studies at Shanghai University and artistic director of the Taormina International Film Festival, and former director of film festivals in Locarno, Rotterdam, Pesaro, Turin, Venice, and Rome.
(With inputs from Online Desk)
(This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)