Private Project

A Very Normal Day Of Wonders

In a crowded market, a four year old girl wanders with her father, seeing magic in the most ordinary things. While she marvels at sweets, trinkets, colours and sounds, her father remains tied down by the heaviness of his own world.
A fleeting distraction separates them, and in her eyes, the familiar suddenly turns strange. As she drifts deeper into her world of wonder, he plunges into panic and the market becomes a place of shifting realities.

  • RIMA MATHEW
    Director
  • RIMA MATHEW
    Writer
  • RIMA MATHEW
    Producer
  • ARUVI ELEANOR
    Key Cast
    "KUNJI"
  • SHINOD I A
    Key Cast
    "FATHER"
  • ARUN BHASKAR
    CINEMATOGRAPHY
  • RENGANAATH RAVEE
    SOUND DESIGN
  • SARATH USHA SASIDHARAN
    EDITING
  • RIMA MATHEW
    EDITING
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    drama
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes 58 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 25, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    1,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Malayalam
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Mumba International Film Festival
    Pune, Maharashtra
    India
    September 25, 2025
    Indian Premiere
    Two Awards: Best Child Actress and Best Editing
  • KIDS FIRST! Film Festival
    More than 50 venues worldwide affiliated with KIDS FIRST!
    Official Selection
  • CASCADIA International Women’s Film Festival
    Bellingham, Washington
    United States
    Semi Finalist
Director Biography - RIMA MATHEW

Rima Mathew comes from Kerala, India.
Life handed her an engineering degree first, but she soon traded numbers and formulas for narratives, stepping into journalism and later, writing, both fiction and non-fiction. Through every chapter of life, storytelling remains her constant compass.
She worked as an assistant and later as an associate director on a few films, series, and documentaries, learning the craft by being in the thick of it.
Filmmaking, for Rima, is pure art—a space where the ordinary sparks curiosity, imagination reigns, and it becomes her language of expression and survival.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

"A Very Normal Day of Wonders" is a story about perception, curiosity, awe, and the seemingly different but fragile space between childhood and adulthood. Through the eyes of four-year-old Kunji, the ordinary transforms into the extraordinary. Each sound, color, and gesture might hold its own small magic, easily overlooked. By blending live-action with subtle whimsical touches, the film attempts to evoke the fluidity of a child’s perception.
In the film, her father moves through the market weighed down by the concerns of his adult world, blind to the small marvels that surround him. A sudden separation turns everything upside down. For Kunji, imagination makes reality shimmer; for him, panic and worry take over. The film is about this delicate tension, highlighting how their distinct perceptions shape their experience of the same world.
The themes, tone, and rhythm were carefully designed to reflect the inner lives of both characters. The treatment of visuals and sound was particularly crafted to suit this—bright, vivid, and immersive for Kunji, dull and cluttered for her father. We shot in a real market, working with actors and everyday people, meticulously scripted to preserve the spontaneity of childhood and the frenetic pace of grown-ups.
As a director, I am drawn to stories that explore the invisible emotional landscapes within everyday life. This film and the process of making it have been a little meditation on mindfulness, the small delights of ordinary days, and a gentle reminder that sometimes we need to pause.