Dreaming of Words is a 2021 Indian documentary film directed and produced by Nandan. Dreaming of Words has received numerous accolades including National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film (2020) awarded to Nandan as both director and producer at the 68th National Film Awards. The documentary traces the life and work of Njattyela Sreedharan, a fourth standard drop-out, who compiles a dictionary connecting four major Dravidian languages.
Synopsis
Njattyela Sreedharan, a fourth standard drop-out, compiles a dictionary connecting four major Dravidian languages. Travelling across four states and doing extensive research, he spent twenty five years making the multilingual dictionary. This unique dictionary offers a comparative study of Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. Dreaming of Words traces Sreedharan's life, work, love for languages and the struggles to get the dictionary published. The film also explores the linguistic and cultural diversity in India.
People featured
The documentary follows Njattyela Sreedharan's unparalleled determination to compile his 'Dictionary of Four Dravidian Languages'. The film also features P. K. Pokker, former director of Kerala Bhasha Institute, who decided to publish Sreedharan's Tamil - Malayalam dictionary in 2012 and K. P. Mohanan, the secretary of Kerala Sahitya Akademi.
Also featured in the documentary are Seetharam Master, N. P. Usha and K. K. Ramesh.
Release
Dreaming of Words had its world premiere at the International Mother Language Day Celebrations 2021 organised by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and the Ministry of Education (India) in partnership with UNESCO. This was followed by an international premiere as part of Kultura Con at the Brazilian Cultural Center in Angola. Dreaming of Words had its American premiere at the Micheaux Film Festival on 26 April 2021. The documentary was screened at the annual convention of the Modern Language Association and the annual conference of the Linguistic Society of America in January 2022.
Official selections and screenings
Film festivals
Central Florida Film Festival - 2022
Black Bear Film Festival - USA – 2021
Kultura Con – Angola – 2 March 2021
RapidLion: The South African International Film Festival – South Africa – 9 April 2021 Micheaux Film festival – USA – 26 April 2021 (American premiere) 61st Kraków Film Festival Video Library – Poland - 30 May 2021 Chicago South Asian Film Festival - 2021 Washington DC South Asian Film Festival – USA - 2021 Agora Doc Market Thessaloniki Documentary Festival – Greece - 24 June 2021 Festival International du Film de Bretagne – France (European premiere) – 8 July 2021 Festival Nits de cinema oriental de Vic (Asian Summer Film Festival) – Spain – 20 July 2021 Florida South Asian Film Festival – 2021 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival – China - 2022 Atlanta Urban Mediamakers Festival – 2021 Fiorenzo Serra Film festival – Italy – 2021 Vizantrop Engaged Ethnographic Film Festival – Serbia – 2021 17th Festival Transterritorial de Cine Underground – Argentina – 2021 Jaffna International Cinema Festival – Sri Lanka – 2021 Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival – India – 2021 SiGNS Film Festival - Kerala - 3 April 2022