Daivakkolangal enters the 18th IDSFFK Competition.

Daivakkolangal (Embodied Deities) follows Theyyam artist Gopi through the space where performance, livelihood, caste, recognition and neglect meet.

The film is not conceived as a general introduction to Theyyam or as a catalogue of ritual. At its centre is an artist and the contradictions of his existence: the authority and transformation of performance, the social reality outside it, and the distance between reverence for the embodied deity and the everyday life of the performer.

Directed by Suresh Achoos, the 26-minute documentary is part of the Competition section of the 18th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala. Its Kerala screening is scheduled for Sunday, 27 September 2026.

AdGrains joins the project as co-producer, with Shibeesh K Chandran, Founder and Creative Director of AdGrains, serving as Creative Consultant. The collaboration reflects the studio’s growing involvement in independent cinema and documentary practice alongside its commercial production and post-production work.

For Shibeesh, independent filmmaking creates a different creative space — one where observation, character and lived experience can take precedence over commercial communication. His longer-term vision is to use the creative network, production experience and post-production infrastructure developed through AdGrains to help independent filmmakers shape culturally rooted stories, strengthen projects through development and post, and prepare them for festivals and wider audiences.

AdGrains’ role as co-producer also represents a broader ambition: to participate in films from the development stage rather than entering only as a technical or post-production partner. The intention is to support filmmakers whose work engages with culture, memory, identity, labour and social realities, while preserving the individual voice of each film.

Daivakkolangal is one step in that direction. Built around the life of one performer, the film expands into a larger reflection on ritual, dignity, survival and the society surrounding him.

Visit daivakkolangal.com ↗