About this Event
7th House is proud to present the restoration of a radiant rediscovery of India’s Parallel Cinema movement: visionary filmmaker Govindan Aravindan’s KUMMATTY (1979).
Beautifully photographed amid the lush pastoral landscapes of rural Kerala, KUMMATTY unfolds like a vivid, mythic dream. A folktale brushed with keenly humanist observation told largely from a child’s point of view, the film follows a wandering trickster—the Kummatty, a shamanic boogeyman —who arrives in a small village each year bearing songs, stories, and vividly colored masks. Like a pied piper, he enchants the local children, playfully transforming them into animals and back again. But his magic, though whimsical and wondrous, carries an undertow: when one boy fails to return home, the spell lays bare its darker, more unsettling power, revealing how wonder and danger can quietly coexist.
A pioneering director of films in Malayalam, one of India’s oldest languages, director G. Aravindan was a master of Indian “Parallel Cinema,” a post-1960s art-house movement that rejected mainstream commercial formulas in favor of socially conscious, formally adventurous films rooted in realism, regional cultures, and personal expression. Of his own philosophy he once said, “My ultimate in the art form is the north Indian raga-alapana, whose only meaning is the satisfaction and the tranquillity it conveys.” Here he crafts a work of extraordinary gentleness and visual lyricism, presenting KUMMATTY as neither fantasy nor realism, but something more elusive and elemental — seamlessly weaving documentary textures with moments of pure myth, allowing children’s chants, folk rhythms, and long stretches of contemplative silence to shape the film’s emotional terrain. Vibrantly lensed by cinematographer Shaji N. Karun, its images feel rooted in the land itself—an elemental cinema shaped by wind, light, and the slow breathing of rural life.
Lovingly restored to its original vibrance by The Film Foundation, founded by Martin Scorsese, KUMMATTY emerges anew as a vital work of Indian cinema, reintroducing the world to one of Indian cinema’s great masters through one of his most luminous works—a cinematic poem of childhood, transformation, and the fleeting nature of wonder.
Dir. Govindan Aravindan, 1979, 89 min, India, Malayam w/ English Subtitles, Digital.
Special thanks to Janus Films.
Tickets: $12 (All Screenings Are In-Person Only)
Please email [email protected] or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.
ADVISORY DISCLAIMER
With some exception, The Philosophical Research Society’s 7th House Screenings does not typically provide advisory warnings about potentially upsetting content or subject matter, as sensitivities are particular to each viewer. Please be sure to read event listings, research on the web, or visit Common Sense Media, IMDb, and DoesTheDogDie.com for thorough info on content and age-appropriateness. If you have any specific content advisory questions, please email [email protected].
CONTENT DISCLAIMER
The views, opinions, and thoughts expressed within exhibited works are solely those of their creators and may not represent those of the Philosophical Research Society (PRS), its affiliates, or any individuals associated with PRS. Screenings are intended for educational and entertainment purposes.
ACCESSIBILITY
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles, United States
USD 14.64
