A Riveting Revelation

TNIE speaks to Jijo Kuriakose, who seeks to narrate a queer story from a queer point of view in his short film Velipadu—The Revelation

- PARVANA K.B.

An attempt to fill the gaps that often appear while telling the stories of queer people—that is how filmmaker Jijo Kuriakose describes his Malayalam short film Velipadu—The Revelation.

In Kerala, in literature and cinema related to gender, sexuality or queer community, the first-person narrative is often missing, he feels. This is what ultimately pushed Jijo into filmmaking. And now, the queer filmmaker is basking in the awards his film has gathered from around the globe.

Velipadu, a coming-of-age story of a Malayali youngster, was featured in various film festivals worldwide, earning accolades on the way.

It received awards for Best Direction at the LGBTQ Toronto/LA Festival and the 7th Anna Bhau Sathe Short Film and Documentary Festival held at the National Institute of Film Archives, Pune. It was awarded Best Short Film (Critics’ Choice) at the 7th Golden Jury Film Festival, Mumbai, and received honourable mention (Short Film Section) at the 10th Ridgway Independent Film Festival in Colorado. The film was also part of the 30th SPE (Society for Photographic Education) Media Festival’s official selection in Nevada in 2025, and many more are there.

The beginning of it was from a simple idea, a revelation so to speak. Art and literature have the power to have a long-term influence on people.