Chennai is filled with film students waiting to step into the world of silver screen, aspiring directors who shoot whenever they can, critics and enthusiasts who discusses their favourite filmmakers, and audiences who turn up for films that have travelled the world. Amid the city’s active relationship with cinema, what happens to filmmakers with no production house backing?
It was this question of doing art “with what you have” that brought together ING Art House: Kalai in everythING and Art is War Collective. The two city-based art communities are all set to launch their first edition of Nizhalgal Underground Film Festival (NUFF).
Pradeep CG, a representative of the festival, says that NUFF is a step toward creating more spaces for films and filmmakers — outside the mainstream. “There is no need to wait for a budget or any other external things to make the art happen. All you need is a story, camera and actors,” he says.
Working towards a dream
The idea took shape through the two collectives’ earlier experiences and the festival arrives at a time when its organisers believe Chennai’s appetite for cinema has not necessarily translated into enough spaces for independent and underground films. Pradeep says, “There is no space where (independent) film is discussed or independent filmmakers are brought together, compared to Kerala, West Bengal or anywhere else in India. Tamil Nadu and Chennai primarily lack the independent film culture.”
NUFF received around 110 to 120 submissions during its month-long open call. Selecting the final 30 was, according to Pradeep, was demanding. The curation team, including Independent and Experimental Film Festival of Kerala’s director Arjun and R Balakumaran of Coimbatore’s Avant Garde Film Commune, watched the submissions repeatedly to arrive at a lineup that aligned with the festival’s ideology. Artist Naveen and creative director Venky were an integral part of the pre-event process, adds Pradeep. The emphasis was not on scale or technical polish alone. “We wanted to make sure that the selected films were made without a huge budget. It should have soulful storytelling that the film deserves and a novelty, meaning, and landscape that can easily be differentiated from ten other films,” Pradeep says of the films they were looking for.
The visual archive
The resulting lineup brings together 30 feature films, shorts and student films across Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Assamese and English. Among the key screenings is ‘Tungabhadra’, the debut feature of filmmaker Sayantan Acharya, which will have its second premiere in India at NUFF. Abdul Aziz’s ‘Petals in the Wind’ will also premiere at the festival.
Student filmmakers have also been consciously given space, with films including ‘How Red is a Loss’ by Niveditha, ‘Kinaru’ by Sanjay, ‘Miracle’ by Vipin, ‘Manithan Enbavan’ by Sreeram, ‘Before Monsoon’ by Boseram. The submissions also revealed a gap the organisers want to address. Of the approximately 120 films received, only eight were directed by women. Five of them have been selected for screening: ‘How Red is a Loss’, ‘Punishing the Professor’, ‘Windows’, ‘Half of Everything’ and ‘Things I Didn’t Tell Amma’. ‘Windows’ was also the only LGBTQIA+ film in the lineup, according to Pradeep.
Beyond the screenings, NUFF will host two discussions that extend the conversation beyond cinema halls. On the first day, a panel on World Literature and Tamil Literature will bring together filmmaker and poet R Gowtham, research scholar and screenwriter Kathiravan Annamalai, and filmmaker-producer Mukesh Subramaniam. The second day will feature a discussion on Independent Cinema, with filmmakers who participated in the festival, Abdul Aziz, Sayantan Acharya and Barathy Kolappan, alongside film critic and programmer Aditya Shrikrishna and research scholar and film critic Sreya Sreekumar.
“The second panel will discuss the ground reality of Indian independent cinema, what is happening in the present world, what other platforms and mediums are there to showcase these films, and the struggles and challenges that the filmmakers faced,” explains Pradeep. He adds that, more importantly, the panellists’ journeys could offer a possible path to those who want to make films themselves.
Dreams and hopes
For the organisers, therefore, Nizhalgal is not simply a collection of screenings. It is intended to become a meeting point — one where filmmakers, students, critics and audiences can discover each other’s work and possibly find collaborators for the next one. Pradeep says that future editions could include a producer market or pitching platform where filmmakers can present their stories and projects. Yet, he hopes the festival’s biggest contribution will be inspiring more such spaces across the city. “We definitely don’t want Chennai to stop with Nizhalgal. We want more film festivals to happen in Chennai.” For now, Nizhalgal hopes to be the first “window” for networking in the independent film world.
NUFF will be held on September 12 and 13, from 9 am onwards, at Flyerz Studio, Kottivakkam. Tickets are available on KYN.