‘The Soul Whisperer’ to premiere at Busan

Mumbai : Malayalam feature Chevittorma, titled The Soul Whisperer in English, written and directed by Leo Thaddeus, will have its world premiere at the 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in South Korea. The film, starring Dileesh Pothan and Pauly Valsan, has been selected for A Window on Asian Cinema, the festival’s non-competitive section showcasing contemporary films from across Asia.

BIFF will be held from October 6 to 15 at the Busan Cinema Center.

Set in the hills of Kerala, The Soul Whisperer is a meditative drama exploring death, faith, memory and redemption. The story follows Theresia, a woman who sits beside the dying and whispers prayers believed to guide their souls peacefully towards death. Her visit to the ancestral home of a powerful landlord awaiting his final moments gradually turns into a confrontation with buried memories and unresolved histories.

For Mr. Pothan, the film offered an experience distinct from his earlier work. “Varkichan is a character who exists in a space between life and death, and much of what he carries is unspoken,” he said. He added that he was drawn to Mr. Thaddeus’ sensitivity and his willingness to let “silence, stillness and performance” drive the storytelling. The Busan premiere, he said, was particularly encouraging for an independent Malayalam film.

Mr. Thaddeus said the film was an attempt to move away from the pace and conventions of mainstream cinema and explore a more intimate form of storytelling. “The film began with a simple question: what happens when death refuses to arrive, and a family is forced to remain in that moment of waiting?” he said. The story subsequently evolved into an exploration of memory, guilt, faith and redemption.

The film is produced by Stephen Zacharias, Aditya Grover, Harsh Agarwal, Lokan Raveendran, Jacob Zacharias and Sajan Balan. Zacharias, Grover and Agarwal have previously produced Nirvana Inn and Rapture.

Mr. Thaddeus, known for his work in Malayalam commercial cinema, makes his independent filmmaking debut with the film. Swaroop Shanker is the cinematographer and Joseph Nellickal the production designer. Colour grading is by Rob Lang, while Ronex Xavier is the makeup artist.

French-based filmmaker and editor Carlo Francisco Manatad, whose credits include Tiger Stripes, which won the Grand Prize at Cannes Critics’ Week, has edited the film. The project marks his first Indian feature. The music is by Iranian composer Milad Movahedi, known for Critical Zone.

Drawing on Christian rituals and cultural traditions of Kerala, the film examines the relationship between prayer, faith, guilt and the possibility of redemption in the final moments of life.