Screenings

Synopsis

Meena stubbornly refuses to speak. She loves a man from a lower caste. Her family thinks she is possessed and the spell is cast out of her. The day begins, a road movie starts, as religious fervour and insane misogyny are narrated in passing.
What director P.S. Vinothraj makes of this little story is as impressive as it is entertaining. With great visual humor, he tells of the stoic perseverance of his heroine, while patriarchal chaos reigns around her: the relatives of the man to whom she was promised talk at her, insult and threaten her; her own family remains embarrassed and powerless; the rooster, which is to be brought as a sacrifice, collapses. The director shows the mania for masculinity and real violence relentlessly and at the same time cleverly undermines them again and again with the means of cinema. And Meena counters this with her silence.

Director

Vinothraj P.S.

Biography

P.S. Vinothraj, born in 1988 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter. After working as an assistant in the film industry, he directed the short film SUBWAY in 2016. His feature debut PEBBLES, inspired by his family background, premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2021, where it won the Tiger Award. The film went on to receive numerous accolades worldwide, including Best Director at the Singapore International Film Festival. PEBBLES was the openning film of the Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival 2021.

Filmography

Subway (2016), Pebbles (2021, NIHRFF 2021), The Adamant Girl (2024)