SIFF Cinema, Seattle -- Saturday, October 5th -- 7:00pm 

Hues of Red (Chayilyam)

Chayilyam is about the ‘shades of red’ that go into the feminine: in the film it takes various forms like the blood-red of the menstrual blood, the flag-red of radical movement, the violent-red of murder, the bright-red of Theyyam costume (Theyyam is a traditional folk art form of Kerala, India), the red of anger, the dark red of earth and tradition, the blood of female tears and resistance etc. At the centre of the narrative is Gouri, who ‘attains’ goddess status when the goddess begins to speak and dance through her and her menstruation comes to a premature end. A widow recovering from the shock of her husband’s death, she is pulled apart by various social forces in different directions: while the society worships and makes a goddess out of her, her father in law who is also a traditional medical practitioner wants to bring her back to normal life. As for her, she neither wants to be a goddess or an idol, but an ordinary woman and mother to her son. Finally she manages to cast away the burden of social customs and breaks free to find herself and her feminine self.

Set in North Malabar, Kerala, India, the film draws from the orgasmic performative energy of Theyyam, the ritual performance in which gods and goddesses, and the valiant dead come to life in vibrant forms and figures. Traditionally, in the case of most of the Theyyam, the goddesses are performed by men. This film is based on the legend of a sole goddess who is performed by female performers. Chayilyam draws its narrative energy and form from various aspects of Theyyam performance: its roots in the legends and collective unconscious, myths about female goddesses, the costumes, penances, dance movements, chanting and rituals that accompany it. 

Chayilyam celebrates the various shades of red in the feminine, through the rebellion of Gouri and her assertion and rediscovery of her femininity.