Jayaraj's Bhayanakam will be screened in the India Pavillion at the 71st Cannes Film Festival. The film recently bagged three National Awards including Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.
Bhayanakam is among a list of four films representing regional cinema at the prestigious festival along with Village Rockstars from Assam, Nagarkirtan from Bengal, and Sinjar from Lakshadweep.
The India Pavillion was created with the intention of bringing attention to good regional cinema as well as finding a suitable market for them.
Bhayanakam is based on two chapters from Thakazhi Siva Sankara Pillai's novel Kayar, and revolves around a postman (Renji Panicker) from Kuttanad who has to deal with the psychologically tormenting task of delivering news of dead soldiers to their families after World War II breaks out.