Experiencing Interruptions?

My Beloved Child

The film rolls out as a first-person narration of a young mother, who accomplished her career as a professor. She reminisces her rewarding childhood days, growing up in a hamlet where female child education was neglected. It was the ardent interest of her father that enabled her to pursue her education. He was determined to take her to school even on a buffalo, which led to her school mates teasing her as “buffalo kid”. In spite of that, and her mother’s constant nagging, it was her father’s resolve that encouraged her to pursue her studies. Now she is a mother of a young girl determined to follow the steps of her father.

  • Valarmathi
    Director
  • Valarmathi
    Writer
  • Department of Social Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu
    Producer
  • Somasundaram
    Key Cast
    "Father"
  • Riythvika
    Key Cast
    "Daughter as Woman"
  • Kihani
    Key Cast
    "Daughter as Child"
  • Venba
    Key Cast
    "Grand daughter"
  • Pattaiyyan
    Key Cast
    "Watch man"
  • Dinesh
    Key Cast
    "Bypasser"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    என் அருமைக் கன்னுக்குட்டி
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 21 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 13, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    4,900 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Tamil
  • Shooting Format:
    RED
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Calcutta International Cult Film Festival
    Kolkata
    India
    September 23, 2021
    Outstanding Achievement Award
  • Brandenburg International Film Festival
    Berlin
    Germany
    August 23, 2021
    Best Director - Outstanding Achievement Award
  • Tagore International Film Festival
    Kolkata
    India
    July 31, 2021
    Outstanding Achievement Award
  • Virgin Spring Cinefest
    Kolkata
    India
    July 19, 2021
    Short Film - Silver Award
  • Twilight Tokyo Film Festival
    Tokyo
    Japan
    July 24, 2021
    Director - Outstanding Achievement Award
  • Weyauwega International Film Festival
    Wisconsin
    United States
    November 13, 2021
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • None
Director Biography - Valarmathi

Pen-name Valarmathi. Playwright, literary critic and aspiring independent film maker. Have traversed a broad terrain of fields ranging from history, literature, philosophy, theatre, cinema and socio-political issues within the Tamil social-cultural milieu for the past 25 years.
Began my career in the field of literature as translator of snippets from Afro-American literature in 1995. Played a pioneering role in introducing the critical historical school “Subaltern Studies” in 1996.
Conceived and Organized a documentary film festival in Chennai screening around 60 documentary classics in March 16-25, 2006.
Performed as Curator of the “Classical Documentary Film Workshop”, screening and lecturing on 15 documentary classics, organized by the Madurai based film society Yadhartha, 12.02.07 to 15.02.07.
Presented a screening of three films, Powers of Ten by Charles Eames, Soldier Girls by Joan Churchill and Nicholas Broomfield and Full Metal Jacket by Stanley Kubrick with an introductory lecture on different modes of documentaries and the relation between reality (in documentaries) and fiction with particular reference to the latter two films at the Film Festival organized by the Department of Performing Arts, Pondicherry University on the eve of their BI-decennial celebrations and Inauguration of Audio- Visual Unit on 11th October 2006.
First play “Parama Padham” (Lords Feet) was staged in 2004. Second play “Vamsa Vadham” (Annihilation of a Clan) was staged in 2008.
Turned to film making with the short film “Shiva: The Third Eye” commissioned by UNESCO in 2007. My recent short film titled “My Beloved Child” emphasizing the importance of female child education was commissioned by the Department of Social Welfare, Govt. of Tamilnadu in Nov. 2020.

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Director Statement

In 2018, when I was working on a research project, I had the opportunity to visit the hamlet depicted in the film. The hamlet had more buffaloes than humans, was untouched by chemical fertilizers, and to my surprise didn’t show up in the google map too. The serene surroundings impressed me so much that I vowed to make a film there sometime. When the Commissioner of Social Welfare Department, invited me to make a film emphasizing female child education, it was the village and the buffaloes that popped up in my mind instantly. I decided to write a script with the village as the backdrop and buffalo as the principal character. With buffalo as principal character, I was able to foreground the prejudice against color in a positive light. It also emphasized the efforts one can take to pursue education in a milieu where female education is treated with indifference. Thus was born, “My Beloved Child”.