NIZHALKUTHU (Shadow Kill)
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
India. 2002.90 min
Cast : Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Sukumari

The plot is set in the 1940s in a village of Travancore, British India. Kaliyappan, the last hangman of Travancore dynasty is dragging his remaining life by consuming alcohol and worshipping the Mother Goddess. The reason for this self-destruction is the remorse born out of the feeling that the last man he hanged was an innocent.

While pulling on his life by boozing, worshiping the Goddess and treating ailing people with the ash obtained by burning the hanging rope, one day the King’s messenger once again arrives with the King’s order of appointing him for executing a convict termed as ‘a killer, proved beyond doubt’. He leaves to the jail with his Gandhian, freedom fighter son to assist him in his job.

As a tradition, the hangman has to spend the eve of the execution awake. When alcohol fails to keep Kaliyappan awake, the jailer starts telling a ‘spicy tale’ to keep him awake, the tale of a 13-year-old girl raped and killed by her own brother-in-law and an innocent musician boy convicted for this charge.

When Kaliyappan comes to know the condemned person he is about to hang is that very same musician boy, he breaks down.

VIDHEYAN (The Servile)
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
India. 1994.112 min
Cast : Gopakumar, Mammootty, Tanvi Azmi

Vidheyan is a 1993 Indian Malayalam film directed and written by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. It is a cinematic adaptation of the novella Bhaskara Pattelarum Ente Jeevithavum by Malayalam writer Zacharia. The film explores the master-slave dialectic in a South Karnataka setting. Mammootty plays the lead role in the film, who received several accolades for his work.

Thommy, a Christian migrant labourer from Kerala is an obedient slave of his aggressive, tyrannical landlord Bhaskara Pattelar. Thommy obeys all the orders of his master, whether it is to make his own wife sexually available to his master or in killing Pattelar’s kindly wife, Saroja. When Pattelar escapes to a jungle, due to his own deeds, Thommy escorts him like a pet. But when Pattelar is killed Thommy exults in freedom.

MUKHAMUKHAM (Face to Face)
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
India. 1985.107 min
Cast :  Asokan, P. Ganga, Vishwanathan

The film starts in the early 1950s showing Sreedharan, the protagonist, as a very popular communist leader and trade union activist. He is forced to go underground after his name is associated with the murder of the owner of a tile factory. He is considered to be dead by his party and they even erect a memorial for him. But he makes an unexpected comeback almost 10 years later, after the first communist ministry gained and lost power in Kerala and after the Communist Party of India has split. On his return, he spends his time sleeping and drinking. His comeback is first a puzzle and then an embarrassment to his comrades and family. As the disappointment on his new face grows, he is found murdered. The film ends when both the communist parties jointly celebrate his martyrdom. A discussion was carried out about this movie in Russian Parliament.

KODIYETTAM (Ascent)
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
India. 1977.137 min
Cast :  Gopi, Lalitha, Thikkurisi Sukumaran

The film captures the ascent of the protagonist, Shankaran Kutty, from a carefree individual to a mature responsible adult. The opening sequences, canned by the director himself, shows Shankaran Kutty- attending a temple festival. The film proceeds to show the irresponsible and often nomadic life style of Shankaran Kutty.  Shankaran Kutty, though seemingly at the beginning of middle age, spends most of his time playing around with children, joining political processions and helping the villagers when he is not attending temple festivals. He is provided for by his younger sister who works as a house maid in the city of Thiruvananthapuram. His sister in an attempt to get his life organized arranges a marriage for him. But to the dismay of his new wife, Shankaran Kutty continues his life style often staying away from home for weeks. The already pregnant wife soon leaves him, and Shankaran Kutty does not make any attempt to have her back at home.

KATHAPURUSHAN (The Man of the Story)
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
India. 1996. 107 min
Cast : Vishwanathan, Mini Nair, Aranmulla Ponnamma

Kathapurushan is an award-winning feature film directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. The film is in Malayalam. It stars Vishwanathan, Mini Nair, Aranmula Ponnamma, Narendra Prasad and Urmila Unni. It won the Golden Lotus Award for Best Film at the National Film Awards in 1996. Kathapurushan is a journey exploring the recent history of the state of Kerala in India.

Kunjunni’s parents separate soon after his birth, and he’s left to be cared by his mother, void of paternal care and affection. He is brought up by his mother with the help of his grandmother, an estimate manager and his friend Meenakshi, the daughter of a maid servant working in Kunjunni’s house. Inspired by his Uncle, who was initially a Gandhian, and eventually a Marxist, Kunjunni finds himself drawn to left-wing ideologies during his studies at college, believing that communism is the answer to heal all social hardships and inequalities. Eventually he joins an extremist Marxist group, and his affairs land him in trouble. After an attack at a police station, Kunjunni is arrested and taken to court, but later acquitted of all charges.

ELIPPATHAYAM (The Rat Trap)
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
India. 1982. 120 min
Cast : Jalaja, Karamana Janardanan, Rajam Nair

Elippathayam is a 1981 Malayalam film written and directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. It is critically considered by many to be one of the most outstanding pieces in Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s filmography.

A middle-aged man, Unni, and his three sisters struggle as the feudal way of life becomes unviable in Kerala. Eventually, succumbing to the adverse conditions surrounding him, Unni becomes helpless like a rat in a trap. The ‘rat trap’ is a metaphor for a state of oblivion to changes in the external world, such as the disintegration of the feudal system, in which some are caught and which leads to destruction.

Gopalakrishnan says in his interview that the movie was inspired by the feudal characteristics of his own family. Silence is a huge trope in the move, with large swathes of silence in dialogue.

Flight of the guitar. Dreaming of Paco de Lucía
Jorge Martínez / Javier Limón
Spain. 2016. 72 min

This is the story of a trip with a special focus on “La Maestro”, the only guitar designed by Paco de Lucía and created for his friend and luthier Antonio Morales.

Keeper of swing
Andrea Barrionuevo
Spain. 2016. 61 min

For over forty years located inside a University Halls of Residence in Madrid, existed an important and influential venue for music, art and culture, known as “El Johnny”. This documentary is a trip through memory lane of “El Johnny” as seen by Alejandro Reyes.

Andrea Barrionuevo. Besides studying a degree in Advertising and Public Relations, Audiovisual Communication and a Masters in Management of the Film Industry in 2015 at the Carlos III University, Andrea had international experience in the field of
production in different companies such as EGEDA US ( in Los Angeles and Miami) , Malevolo (Madrid) , Future Films and Hanway Films in London. In 2013 she created with Marta Longás her own production company where they make their own projects. Currently she combines her work in Pocket Rocket Films with her position as production assistant in Morena Films. ” Keeper of Swing ” is her debut as a producer as well as a director .

Though you may not know it. The poetry of Luis García Montero Charlie Arnaiz / Alberto Ortega
Spain. 2016. 70 min

Documentary film that tries to bring to the public the figure and work of the Spanish poet Luis García Montero.