Cadmium Hollow is a full-length fiction film by Abhishek Udaykumar. The piece includes a Prologue. The story follows a day in the life of an artist as he makes a painting for his parting beloved. Over the course of the story, he encounters friends and strangers who appear helpless in their disenchanted lives. The film contemplates the idea of abstraction in art, time, relationships and nostalgia.

Cadmium Hollow uses a visual, sonic and literary form of storytelling. The ambient drone, thematic music and heavy monochrome create a distinct reality that is at once surreal and universal. The narrative manifests from different literary devices such as the essay, poem, epimone and prose.

The film’s scenes were shot in still frames of approximately 1:33:1. The aspect ratio was used to distill time into photographic impressions. Each shot was decided beforehand and no extra shots were filmed. The title Cadmium Hollow evokes a subterranean world of deranged suburbia and lost souls. It describes the film’s reverberation as an eternal voice.

Cadmium Hollow reflects the predicament of city life and the disquiet of disillusion. It includes a Prologue that introduces a secondary character in the story, and presents the film as a literary piece driven by its characters. The film’s essays were written by the filmmaker and the protagonist, Felix Jackson, who is a painter in real life.

Abhishek is a writer, filmmaker and painter. He made his first film eight years ago and has made twelve films ever since. His other full-length films include Villages of Garo Hills – a documentary about the way of life of farmers in Meghalaya, and Child – a novelistic film about a writer and her world, that runs for over five hours. His other films include documentaries, short fiction, experimental films and silent films. He writes novels, short stories and poetry and paints in different styles, with a strong influence of Persian miniatures. Cadmium Hollow was written and filmed by Abhishek. The sound was also designed by him, while the music and drone were produced by the musician Ashwin Ethiraj.

The film screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker.

To watch the Prologue and know more about the film, please visit the Archive page.