{"id":628930,"date":"2026-09-18T21:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/628930\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T21:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:26:09","slug":"don-palatharas-monkey-play-selected-for-viff-business-hub-wip-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/628930\/","title":{"rendered":"Don Palathara’s ‘Monkey Play’ Selected for VIFF Business Hub WIP Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cMonkey Play\u201d (\u201cKurangukali\u201d), the latest project by Indian filmmaker Don Palathara<\/a> (\u201c1956, Central Travancore,\u201d \u201cFamily\u201d), has been selected for the Vancouver Film Festival<\/a>\u2019s new Business Hub Works-in-Progress program, which showcases up to eight feature-length projects in the final stages of production.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film, which Variety unveiled last year<\/a>, follows Sethu and Nikita, who, in the wake of their young daughter\u2019s death, retreat to an isolated house in the hills of Idukki in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Their fragile relationship is disrupted when Sethu encounters a feral child in the forest and brings him home. As the couple\u2019s lives begin to revolve around the child, their grief takes different forms, quietly altering the way they see each other and the world around them.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat begins as an attempt to live with their loss gradually takes them into an uncertain space where memory, perception and reality begin to overlap.<\/p>\n

\n\tPalathara\u2019s cinema is known for its subtle emotional layers and exploration of human relationships. His previous work includes \u201cFamily,\u201d which had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2023<\/a>, as well as \u201cEverything Is Cinema\u201d (2021), \u201cJoyful Mystery\u201d (2021), \u201c1956, Central Travancore\u201d (2019), \u201cVith\u201d (2017) and debut feature \u201cShavam\u201d (2015). His films often tackle complex social realities with a meditative approach that eschews judgment.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is a film about the biggest fear of any parent,\u201d Palathara said about \u201cMonkey Play.\u201d \u201cHere, we have decided to face it and look at the aftermath. The film explores that psychological territory through grief, asking what happens when the mind tries to replace someone who is irretrievably gone,\u201d he told Variety.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBlending psychological thriller, drama and elements of the uncanny, the film uses the landscape of Idukki and the ambiguity between reality and perception to create a deeply intimate yet genre-driven experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMonkey Play\u201d stars Dileesh Pothan, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Rajesh Madhavan and Arjun Radhakrishnan.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film is produced by Kerala-based Artisan Films, whose debut feature, \u201cEkadesham,\u201d is currently in post, Mankind Cinemas and Guardian Angel Films. Producing are Dixon Podudas, Jomon Jacob (\u201cThe Great Indian Kitchen\u201d), Amshunath Radhakrishnan, Jose Mathew and Palathara.<\/p>\n

\n\tTaking place Oct. 1-11, the Vancouver Film Festival\u2019s curated WIP program, which runs Oct. 5-6, will showcase up to eight projects, four Canadian and four international, providing filmmakers with an opportunity to present their films to leading international industry professionals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cMonkey Play\u201d (\u201cKurangukali\u201d), the latest project by Indian filmmaker Don Palathara (\u201c1956, Central Travancore,\u201d \u201cFamily\u201d), has been selected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[267081,93,61,2568,60,270,267082,267083,267084],"class_list":["post-628930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-don-palathara","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-india","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-vancouver-film-festival","tag-viff","tag-viff-business-hub"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}