INFORMATION
Director: Leena Manimekalai
Year: 2019
Duration: 90’
Language: VOSE
Genre: Drama, Mystery
SYNOPSIS
India is a land of subaltern deities for and by clans and communities. Locally known as siru theivam in Tamil (small deities), these gods reign in every enclave of the subcontinent. Each small deity lends itself to unique legends related to its origin. These legends are often intertwined with Indian sociohistorical tropes. Individuals who sacrificed their lives for a greater cause of society; people whose extraordinary and honourable deeds paid with their martyrdom; or those who were victims of injustice and immortalized as local divinities. Puthiraivannaar is a chaste Dalit group living in the southern part of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. Their occupation is to wash the clothes of other Dalits, the dead and menstruating women. The puthirvannars were forced to live in bushes so that others would not see them. Maadathy is their deity. This film is a story about a young girl who grew up in the Puthiraivannaar caste group and how she came to be immortalized as their local deity, Maadathy.
DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Leena Manimekalai is a poet and filmmaker committed to social justice. Her narrative documentaries on caste dynamics, gender, globalization, art therapy, student politics, ecofeminism, indigenous peoples’ rights and LGBTQ lives have won international acclaim and awards at international film festivals. Her first feature film, Sengadal / the Deadsea won the NAWFF award in Tokyo for Best Asian Women’s Film. One of her documentaries, Goddess, received the Golden Shell at MIFF, several nominations for the Horizon Award in Munich and the Asia Pacific Screen Award in Melbourne. For White Van Stories, an exclusive documentary about several disappearances in Sri Lanka, made by her, she received acclaim on platforms such as Channel 4 and Aljazeera. Leena has received the Charles Wal-lace Arts Award, the EU Fellowship and the Commonwealth Fellowship for her work in Film and Gender. She has published five collections of poetry and is currently editing her non-fiction feature film Rape Nation, which chronicles the lives and struggles of rape survivors across the Indian subcontinent. Maadathy- an un-fairy tale is her second fiction feature film.
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180º Rule

18Khz

1990

A Balance

A Leave (휴가)

A Love Unknown

A New Day

A’HR

Abhijan (THE EXPEDITION)

Along the Sea

Anima

APARAJITO (THE INVINCIBLE)

Apur sansar (the world of apu)

Aranyer din ratri (Days and nights in the forest)

Around The Table

Bandar Band

Bedridden

Better Days (少年的你)

Bipolar

Borderlands

Bridge

Café By the Highway

Camino Skies

Can Neither Stay Here, Nor Journey Beyond

Captive (Nazarband)

Cartas de Akyab

Charulata (Charulata or the lonely wife)

Children of the Night

Cinema Shahre Gheseh

COLD

Come Here

Crossroads (Tapguan)

Debris of Desire

Devi (The goddess)

Don’t Go Too Far (멀리가지마라)

Drifting (濁水漂流)

Drive My Car

Drown (Shena-ye Parvaneh)

Drowning In Holy Water

El Barro de la Revolución

Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt)

Eternally Younger Than Those Idiots

Far Frontiers

Faraway My Shadow Wandered

Fire on the Plain

Friends and Strangers

Ganashatru (An enemy of the people)

Ghare-Baire (Bimala’s world)

God on the Balcony

GOOPY GYNE BAGHA BYNE (GOOPY AND BAGHA’S ADVENTURES)

H is For Happiness

Hail, Driver

Hand Rolled Cigarette (手捲煙)

I am Vasantrao

I Don’t Fire Myself (나는 나를 해고하지 않는다)

I Met A Girl

In the Wake

Jalsaghar (The music room)

Jeux de Plage

Josée (조제)

Just 1 Day (給我1天)

Keep Rolling (好好拍電影)

Lato Kosero

Life in 24 Frames

Lockdown

Los mensajes ocultos de Ganga

Love, Life and Goldfish

Mahanagar (One Night in Kathmandu)

Mahanagar (The Big City)

Malu

My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in Afghanistan

Nayak (The Hero)

Not Today

On Your Mom, Get, Set, Go! / Zero to Hero (媽媽的神奇小子)

One More Rainbow (Isa Pang Bahagari)

One Second Champion (秒拳王)

Our Midnight (아워 미드나잇)

Paranoia

Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road)

Pratidwandi (The Adversary)

Ready O/R Knot (不日成婚)

Restart

Rosemary’s Way

Running to the Sky

Sehar

Shakha Proshakha (Branches of the tree)

Shatranj Ke Khilari (The chess players)

Son of the Macho Dancer (Anak ng macho dancer)

Stars Await Us

Stoma (造口人)

Streamline

The Australian Dream

The Badger

The Blue Girl (Dokhtar-e Abi)

The Dogs Didn’t Sleep Last Night (Sag-ha Dishab Na-khabidand)

The Flute

The Forbidden Strings

The Fourth Round (Rand-e Chaharom)

The Great Indian Kitchen

The Inheritance (Mord-e Khor)

The Lake

The Reversed Path (Masir-e Makus)

The Road to Eden

The Single Tumbler

The Slaughterhouse (Koshtargah)

The Woman

The Women

The Year of the Everlasting Storm

Time (殺出個黃昏)

Ulbolsyn

Unboxing Girl (평평남녀)

Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash

Walnut Tree

Water Boy

What We Left Unfinished

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Gūzen to Sōzo)

Where is Pinki?

Wind

Wu Hai

Yellow Cat
