Giovanna Rampazzo
PhD Candidate at Centre for Transcultural Research and
Media Practice
Dublin Institute of Technology – Dublin
A group of Keralite filmmakers in Dublin
Filmmakers do not have access
to professional equipment and
film studios. They use their own
equipment, and public spaces
and private houses as locations
Jijo S. Palatty and Ajith
Kesavan Filming The Circle in
Dublin city centre
Using a wheelchair to achieve a
tracking shot
Photos: Giovanna Rampazzo
The Iris Film Society functions as a
platform to make and screen
independent films
Poster of a short film festival
organized by the Iris Film Society in
2012
Poster advertising the screening of Jijo
S. Palatty’s latest film The Circle
Films are screened in Community
Centres used by Indian communities to
organize cultural activities
The Ballyowen Community Centre in
Lucan hosts Kerala House, a Keralite
association
(Photos: Giovanna Rampazzo)
Binu Daniel of the Iris Film Society
introduces the screening of Jijo S. Palatty’s
The Circle at Kerala House
Brief History of Malayalam Cinema
Film industry based in the Indian state of Kerala producing film in
the Malayalam language
 1950s: Film production boosted by the support from the
Kerala state government
 From the 1960s: Strong art film production helmed by
directors Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan and Shaji Karun.
Film Society Movement begun promoting film as an art form
 1980s Golden age of Malayalam cinema: art film became
commercially successful.
 1990s Commercial film production deteriorated due to the
competition of stronger film industries such as Bollywood.
 2010s: emergence of ‘New Generation Malayalam Cinema’
commercially successful experimental films made with small
budgets
Naalu Pennungal (Four Women, 2007)
directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan
A drama centred
around four
women of different
social backgrounds
living in rural
Kerala. Adaptation
of short stories by
Thakazhi
Sivasankara Pillai
Adoor Gopalakrishnan won the National Film Award for Best Direction
for the film
Nurses from Kerala have a history of
emigration
80% of Indian nurses are from Kerala
Since the 1960s Keralite nurses have migrated to central
Europe, the Persian Gulf, the US, the UK, and recently Ireland
Keralite men based in Ireland are very active
in their communities and organize cultural
events that contribute to the realization of
their film projects
Being a nurse’s husband: a challenge
to traditional masculinity
‘The men I met in Ireland have to assume
a new division of labour within their
couple; for a new generation, it comes to
assume a job for long considered as a
purely women’s job.’
Marie Percot - Transnational Masculinity: Indian Nurses’
Husbands in Ireland (2012: 85)
Examples of films made by Keralite
filmmakers in Dublin
 Short Sight (2011) by Biju Mullamkuzhithadathil
13 mins
 Parakayapravesham (To Take Another Human
Form, 2013) by Jijo S. Palatty – 15 mins
Short Sight (2011) by Biju
Mullamkuzhithadathil
Stills from Short Sight
Stills from Short Sight
Parakayapravesham (To Take Another
Human Form, 2013) by Jijo S. Palatty
Poster of the film
Photos of the making of Parakayapravesham (courtesy of Jijo S. Palatty)
Stills from Parakayapravesham
Men are losing their status as head
of their family
‘The immigrant men experienced loss of status
in two ways: both in terms of their relations to
their wives and in relation to their position
before immigration’
Sheba George - “Dirty Nurses” and “Men Who Play”
Gender and Class in Transnational Migration (2005 : 155)
Stills from Parakayapravesham
Keralite short films as an example
of ‘Accented Cinema’
‘the accent emanates not so much from the
accented speech of the diegetic characters as
from the displacement of the filmmakers and
their artisanal production modes’
Hamid Naficy - An Accented Cinema: Exilic and
Diasporic Filmmaking (2001: 4)
Films are uploaded on Youtube where
viewers can see them and leave their
comments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oOgUhmKkts
Viewers can relate to the
experiences portrayed in the films
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hEpjHKvq2E
News about their film on Indian media
raises the profile of Irish based Filmmakers
Article on Jijo S. Palatty
Parakayapravesham on
‘The Indian Express’
06.04.2014
news in
'Manorama'
about The
Circle, Jijo S.
Palatty latest
film
From Jijo S. Palatty’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jijo.spalatty?fref=ts
Filmmaking allows Indian men to
regain an active role
‘men have obviously more time than their
wives to spend in these activities of
communication. However, this kind of
monopoly allows them to appear as the actual
head of the family and to reaffirm their image
as successful migrants in their home country.’
Marie Percot - Transnational Masculinity: Indian
Nurses’ Husbands in Ireland (2012: 84)
giovanna.rampazzo@mydit.ie