Santhy Balachandran: Shalini's triumph at NIFFF felt like a personal victory

Malayalam film Ennennum, directed by Shalini Ushadevi, won the International Critics Award at the recently concluded Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) in Switzerland. The film features Santhy Balachandran and Anoop Mohandas in the lead roles. Besides directing, Shalini has also served as the writer, producer and production designer of this dystopian science fiction film.

Created in 2000, NIFFF is a Swiss film festival dedicated to showcasing diversified genre films. Reflecting on the prestigious win, Santhy shares, "NIFFF is one of the most highly regarded genre festivals in the world and winning there was an emotionally overwhelming and extremely validating experience. The international critics jury was appreciative of the socio-political commentary, the performances and the aesthetics of Ennennum, and commended the film as 'science fiction at its best.'"

Speaking more on the experience of showcasing Ennennum at Neuchâtel, Santhy adds, "The screenings were well-attended with the word-of-mouth buzz increasing the audience numbers to a full house by the final presentation. We were fortunate to have an engaged audience who participated in the stimulating Q&A sessions that further opened up the themes Shalini explores in the film."

Shalini made her debut as a writer and director with the 2012 Fahadh Faasil-starrer Akam, an adaptation of Malayatoor Ramakrishnan's classic horror novel Yakshi. She was also the co-writer of Sudha Kongara's Tamil film Soorarai Pottru (2020), headlined by Suriya, which won her the Best Screenplay Award at the 68th National Film Awards. She also served as the writer for Netflix's true-crime documentary Curry & Cyanide: The Jolly Joseph Case (2023), helmed by Ullozhukku director Christo Tomy.

Heaping praise on Shalini's persistence, Santhy says it was an "inspiring and extremely rewarding experience" collaborating with her for Ennennum. "Donning multiple hats for this film, Shalini had to battle several challenges and constraints to make this moment possible. To watch her triumph on a prestigious international platform like NIFFF felt like a personal victory," adds the actor, while also revealing that the film is being submitted to more festivals around the world.

Ennennum had its world premiere at the 28th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in December 2023 as part of the Malayalam Cinema Today section.