Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Malayalam film Jallikattu has been selected as the official Indian entry in the Best International Feature Film category at the upcoming 93rd Academy Awards, 2021.
Jallikattu stars Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad and Santhy Balachandran, among others. The 2019 action drama is about a buffalo that flees from a slaughterhouse in a remote hill town of Kerala and a village’s attempt to capture it. It’s also an allegorical tale on human civilisation and how easily social structures can crumble in the face of base instincts.
Jallikattu was written by S Hareesh and R Jayakumar, and it was based on the short story named Maoist penned by Hareesh.The film had its premier at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September last year. It has also been screened at the 24th Busan International Film Festival before theatrical release on October 4 last year in Kerala. Pellissery was feted with the Best Director award at the 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
Jallikattu is the third Malayalam movie that has been selected as an entry for the Academy Awards, after Guru (1997) and Adaminte Makan Abu (2011).
The 93rd Academy Awards will be held on April 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.
