This year’s festival will take place from September 9 to 18.
The feature films “Paka” by debutante director Nithin Lukose and “Dug Dug” by Ritwik Pareek were chosen for the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.
“Paka,” which translates as “River of Blood” in English, will be presented in the Discovery section, which features filmmakers’ debut or second feature films.
The film is based in Wayanad, Kerala, and narrates the story of a river that overflows with the blood of two fighting clans and a married couple that strives to conquer their hate through love.
In the Discovery segment, Pareek’s “Dug Dug,” a “musically catchy parody,” will also be presented.
The official synopsis, which featured on the festival’s website, said, “In this stunning and musically catchy comedy, unexplained occurrences in the aftermath of a bizarre motorbike accident plant the seeds of a new religion.”
Lukose, an FTII alumnus who had earlier worked as a sound engineer on highly acclaimed films such as “Thithi” and “Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar,” expressed his excitement and awe at his first feature film’s selection for the TIFF programme.
Lukose’s take on his film
“When I was little, I was enthralled by the stories and mythology that my grandmother told me. Paka is an example of this obsession. The goal was to present a universal narrative that would appeal to a worldwide audience while being true to the cultural characteristics of the distant hamlet where I grew up and the people I care,” about the filmmaker.
“It’s a source of pleasure for us that a regional film like ours is being showcased at an internationally famous festival like TIFF,” he concluded.
Anurag Kashyap, who joined the film as a producer during the post-production stage, is all in praise for the Malayalam film industry’s excellence.
“Paka” had previously won the best WIP project at the NFDC Film Bazaar 2020 Work-in-Progress Lab.
The 46th Toronto International Film Festival will take place in a hybrid format, featuring in-person and online screenings. This year’s festival will take place from September 9 to 18.
