The official release date of Leena Manimekalai directorial ‘Maadathy’ gets launched by Parvathy Thiruvothu through her social media handles. The movie written, directed and produced by Leena Manimekalai under the banner of Karuvachy Films will be released on Neestream on June 24th.
The movie is a coming of age story of an adolescent girl born in an particular caste group in the remote south of Tamil Nadu. Maadathy is an un'fairy' tale as it speaks of Puthirai Vannars who are forced to wash clothes of the Dalits, the deceased and the menstruating women must hide from the rest of society because their sight alone is perceived as contamination. This film is a reflection on gender, caste and identity, religious beliefs and violence.
Leena Manimekalai is renowned for her poetic films deeply concerned about social justice. Her films across genres and lengths are critically acclaimed and had received numerous awards at International film festivals. Goddesses (2009), Sengadal the Deadsea (Cinema Verite 2011), My Mirror is the Door (2012, Cine Poem), White Van Stories (2015, Feature Documentary) and Is it too much to ask (2017, Mockumentary) grounded her as a unique and original voice as an independent filmmaker.
Maadathy had received mass appreciation from critics and cinephiles at festivals alike including Busan International Film Festival, Kolkata International Film Festival, Latin American FICCI 60, Third Eye Asian Film Festival, Chicago South Asian Film Festival, DC South Asian Film Festival among many others where it was screened. The movie also received FIPRESCI Jury Award, Golden Kailasha for Best Film, Best Actress and Best Cinematography Awards at Aurangabad International Film Festival, 2020 and nominated for Les Rimbaud Du Cinema Awards in France.
Rafiq Ismail and Yavanika Sriram have co-written the screenplay with Leena Manimekalai. Jeff Dolen, Abinandhan Ramanujam and Karthik Muthukumar share the credits of its immersive cinematography.
Maadhathy was initially crowd funded and later in the post production stage, Piiyush Singh-Golden Ratio Films, Bhavana Goparaju, and Abinandhan Ramanujam joined as Co-Producers. Ajmina Kassim, Patrick Raj, Semmalar Annam and Arul Kumar have given life to the lead characters in Maadathy while the ensemble cast is from the community itself. The editing is by Thangaraj and sound designing is by Tapas Nayak. The music is composed by Karthik Raja and the Art Director is Mohana Mahendran. Designs are done by Pavisankar.
