Bioscope@Filmfestival Mannheim/Heidelberg

The film Bioscope is set in the second decade of the 20th century. This is a story of cinema entering villages of Kerala. The story of history entering the paths of memories and dreams. The story of villagers, made mute by colonialism and slavery, entering the garden of a new vision through a new machine, bioscope.

Perhaps, the protagonist Diwakaran’s new journey starts with his acquisition of a bioscope. The Frenchman DuPont, who does bioscope shows on the coasts of Tamil Nadu, is the architect of his new journey. Diwakaran was stunned by early forms of cinema images. His relationship with DuPont and the bioscope start with his astonishment when he first saw moving images. It turns into a story of inseparable friendship.

Diwakaran’s journey starts from his inner being, to the world outside…. To the vastness of new regions, through the new visions of the bioscope.

His ill wife, Nalini, travels inwards, through her dreams. In the endless depths of the unconscious, she hears foreign echoes and unknown sounds. In her dreams, the corpse of a foreign sailor decays and stinks.

The villagers welcome the new images introduced by the new machine bioscope, with innocence. They see wonder and happiness in it. They experience fear and astonishment. Yet, some suspect that the bioscope box has ghosts of the British hidden inside it.

Diwakaran’s father Murugan Nair is deeply concerned about Nalini’s illness. He is apprehensive about his son’s long journeys. He believes modern medicines are incapable of curing Nalini. He looks for medicines and cure in astrology and witchcraft.

Diwakaran is greeted by all of these forces when he arrives home with his brand new images.,. by the innocence of the villagers and obstinacy of tradition.

The witch-doctor Aayancheri Kaimal, who arrives with a mute girl that can tell what’s past and predict the future, sounds the death knell for the bioscope...

The exorcism of tradition over the pulse of modernity….

Since when did cinema restart its movements?

offizielle Filmhomepage

offiziele Regisseurhomepage

Filmfestival Mannheim/Heidelberg Homepage