British filmmaker Nathalia Syam, who has her roots in Kollam, is on cloud nine. The first look poster and the teaser of her debut directorial venture ‘Footprints on Water’ were unveiled at the ongoing 75th Cannes Film Festival recently. A UK-based film company The Production Headquarters Ltd, owned by Mohaan Nadaar, unveiled the first look of the 115-minute immigration drama at the India Pavilion in Cannes.
The film is entirely shot in Birmingham, a city in England and is in the final stages of post-production, says Nathalia. Oscar-winner Resul Pookutty is the sound designer of the film. The cast includes Adil Hussain, Nimisha Sajayan, Lena Kumar and British actor Antonio Aakeel. The camera has been cranked by Alagappan Narayanan and the script is by Nathalia’s sister, Neetha Syam Anand. Films run in the Syam sister’s gene. The duo are the granddaughters of legendary actors O Madhavan and Vijayakumari.
The gripping 2.50-minutes-long teaser has already received rave reviews at the film festival. For Nathalia, the experience in Cannes was a brilliant one. She soaked up the festivities among the audience comprising film aficionados from all over the world.
“The audience was intrigued about the aspect of illegal immigrants leading an invisible life in the UK. We plan to release the film soon at an international film festival after which there will be theatrical releases in the UK and India”, said the 29-year-old. Director Jayaraj, yesteryear actor Jalaja and A R Rahman had also come with their films to the India Pavilion in Cannes. Nathalia’s second film ‘Salted Caramel’ was also announced at the festival. According to her, it is a bittersweet story as the title suggests.