With Her
Avalkkoppam (With Her) is a crowd-funded, independent feature film in Malayalam produced in India. It centers on the interior life of a girl who passes through love, marriage, married life and a divorce. Five characters: a daughter, her father, mother, lover, a residents’ association president carry the societal and familial notions of honor and dishonor throughout the woman's life. Five characters develop in five scenes, each in a single shot with dialogues between two characters. Borrowing the dramatic technique of using the same space differently, the movie uses minimum space and a limited number of characters to complete the narrative. The minimalist approach presents city and sea by the use of only sound and there is no background music in this film.
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Prathap JosephDirectorDirector of Kuttippuram Palam (2016), Cinematographer of Cr.No.89 (2013), Shavam (2015), Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani (2016)
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Prathap JosephWriter
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Minimal CinemaProducer
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Archana PadminiKey Cast
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Jain Cyriac BabuKey Cast
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AchuthanandanKey Cast
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S PradeepKey Cast
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UshadeviKey Cast
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Gayathri BalushaKey Cast
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Project Type:Experimental, Feature
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Genres:Drama, Romance, Women, Feminism
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Runtime:1 hour 10 minutes
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Completion Date:August 10, 2016
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Production Budget:2,500 USD
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Country of Origin:India
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Country of Filming:India
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Language:Malayalam
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Shooting Format:Digital, 4K
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Prathap Joseph is a photographer, cinematographer, and director based in Kerala, India. Prathap filmed the award-winning crime feature Cr.No.89 in 2013 directed by Sudevan, followed by the critically acclaimed film Savam (The Corpse) directed by Don Palathara in 2015. He is now working as a cinematographer for the upcoming film Eli Eli Sabachthani directed by Jiju Antony. Prathap had earlier did camerawork for several short films and documentaries and directed short films such as Frames and Kanunnundo. His first feature film was Kuttippuram Palam, in which the visuals tell the story without any background music or dialogues.
With Her is personally an important film because it reflects the contemporary reality of female identity in a patriarchal society. The story has many dimensions. The appearance of two actors representing the mainstream cinema and independent cinema respectively, in the same get-up of their well known characters gives this film and the characters an augmented dimension and intertextuality. An important scene in the film is inspired by the short story UchaMazhayile Thumpikal (Dragonflies in the Noon Rain) written by the eminent young Malayalam writer P V Shajikumar.