At the 18th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, Malavika VN's 'Viraamam' emerged as a quietly observant entry in the short documentary competition, centring on the world of film projectionists and the labour that has long remained outside the frame of mainstream cinema discourse. In a festival environment that routinely rewards formal experimentation and social inquiry, the film's subject carries both historical and emotional weight: it revisits a profession that shaped the experience of moviegoing for generations, even as digital systems have steadily displaced the projection booth.
The Hidden Cinema Trade
Projectionists have traditionally occupied one of the most technically demanding and least publicly recognised roles in film exhibition. Their work required precision, timing, and a deep familiarity with the mechanics of screening, whether in single-screen theatres or larger cinema halls. By choosing this profession as the centre of a documentary, 'Viraamam' places attention on a class of workers whose contribution is often remembered only when something goes wrong on screen.
The film's presence in the short documentary competition section is significant because it aligns with a broader documentary tendency to recover marginalised forms of labour and memory. Rather than treating cinema as an abstract cultural product, the film appears to examine the infrastructure and human skill that made the theatrical experience possible. That perspective is especially relevant in Kerala, where film culture has long been deeply embedded in public life and where documentary cinema often engages directly with questions of work, identity, and social change.
The title itself suggests pause, stillness, or a moment of suspension, which may be read as an apt metaphor for a profession caught between eras. Projectionists once operated at the centre of the cinematic ritual, yet the transition to digital projection has reduced many of those skills to a fading institutional memory. A documentary on this subject is therefore not merely nostalgic; it is also archival, preserving a vanishing occupational world before it disappears from living memory.
A Festival Of Memory
The International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala has become one of India's most closely watched platforms for nonfiction and short-form cinema, particularly for works that combine social observation with artistic restraint. Screening 'Viraamam' in this setting places the film within a serious curatorial context, where the value of a documentary is measured not only by topical relevance but also by its ability to reveal overlooked textures of everyday life.
In that sense, the film's focus on projectionists speaks to a larger question facing Indian cinema: what happens to the workers and practices that are rendered obsolete by technological change? The answer is not simply industrial. It is cultural. Projection booths were once sites of expertise, discipline, and intimate knowledge of film prints, reels, and timing. Their disappearance marks a shift in how cinema is produced, delivered, and remembered.
For audiences at IDSFFK, 'Viraamam' likely offers more than a portrait of a profession. It invites reflection on the material history of exhibition and on the people whose labour made the communal experience of cinema possible. In documentary terms, that is a powerful proposition: to restore visibility to those who maintained the machinery of public imagination without ever becoming part of its mythology.
Why The Subject Matters
The documentary's relevance extends beyond film history. It speaks to a broader pattern in contemporary India, where technological modernisation often advances faster than the preservation of occupational memory. As cinemas modernise and projection systems become more automated, the knowledge once held by projectionists risks being lost without record. A film like 'Viraamam' intervenes in that process by treating work as culture and labour as heritage.
That approach is especially valuable in the Indian documentary landscape, where filmmakers increasingly use intimate, grounded subjects to explore larger social transitions. By focusing on a profession rather than a spectacle, Malavika VN appears to be making a film about continuity and disappearance at once. The projectionist becomes both a witness to cinema's past and a symbol of the human expertise that digital systems have made easier to overlook.
In the context of IDSFFK 2026, 'Viraamam' stands out as a reminder that the most consequential stories are not always the loudest. Sometimes they are found in the dimly lit spaces behind the screen, where the mechanics of cinema and the memory of a profession still linger. The film's inclusion in competition underscores the festival's continuing role as a venue for work that preserves cultural detail while asking urgent questions about change, labour, and the future of film exhibition.