Bleat!
| Bleat! | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Ananth Subramaniam |
| Written by | Ananth Subramaniam |
| Produced by | Choo Mun Bel Bradley Liew Dominique Welinski |
| Starring | Tharmasegaran Maniam Pannerselvam Evarani |
| Cinematography | Adrian Wong |
| Edited by | Gogularaajan Rajendran BK Lee |
Production companies | Sixtymac Pictures Epicmedia Productions DW |
Release date |
|
Running time | 15 minutes |
| Country | Malaysia |
| Language | Tamil |
Bleat! (Tamil: கத்து! or Kattu!) is a Malaysian-French-Filipino comedic drama short film directed by Ananth Subramaniam. It is the first short film from Malaysian shown at the Cannes Film Festival.
Plot
A male goat belonging to a Malaysian-Tamil couple is discovered to be pregnant before it is meant to be ceremonially slaughtered. The couple seek out the truth of the situation to avoid punishment from Karuppuswamy.
Cast
- Tharmasegaran Maniam as Marapan
- Pannerselvam Evarani as Papa
- Dhanesh Alagarsu as Goat Head
- Charvine Mailvaganam as Veter
- Big Boy as the goat
Production
Ananth Subramaniam came up with Bleat! after thinking of the "strange" and "unsettling" idea of a pregnant goat and considered what would happen "when you drop that kind of wild, primal energy into a world that's very controlled, very traditional?"[1] Directed by Subramaniam, Bleat! was a coproduction between Sixtymac Pictures of Malaysia, Epicmedia Productions of the Philippines, and DW of France. It received funding from the Singapore International Film Festival's Short Film Fund and Singapore's Momo Distribution Grant.[2]
Shot in black-and-white,[1] all of the filming was done in Banting, Malaysia. Shooting was done in black-and-white as Subramaniam felt that "it brings the story closer to reality" and "strips the world down". Subramaniam was inspired by the works of G. Aravindan, Sam Shepard, and Kelly Reichardt.[3] Post-production work was done by Om Shakthi Films and Om Shakthi Films, colour grading by White Light Post Bangkok in Thailand, sound post-production by dbStudios in Lebanon.[2] The cinematography was done by Adrian Wong and Gogularaajan Rajendran edited the film.[1]
Subramaniam stated that an "unspoken rule" about being a minority is that "as long as you behave like a goat, everything's fine", but whenever "that goat shows desire, independence, or steps beyond its little patch of farmland, everything around it starts trembling."
Release
Hors du Bocal, a Belgian company, is handling the international distribution rights.[2]
Four feature films from Malaysia have been shown at the Cannes Film Festival, and Bleat! will compete at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in Critics' Week, being the first Malaysian short film shown at the festival.[2][4]
References
- ^ a b c Nawawi 2025.
- ^ a b c d Ramachandran 2025.
- ^ Ragu 2025.
- ^ Shackleton 2025.
Works Cited
- Nawawi, Nikita (28 April 2025). "Ananth Subramaniam on Taking 'Bleat!' To Cannes Film Festival". Buro. Archived from the original on 3 May 2025.
- Ragu, Theevya (22 April 2025). "Malaysian Short 'Bleat!' Makes History at Cannes Critics' Week". Free Malaysia Today. Archived from the original on 3 May 2025.
- Ramachandran, Naman (17 April 2025). "Malaysian Short 'Bleat!' Makes History at Cannes Critics' Week". Variety. Archived from the original on 29 April 2025.
- Shackleton, Liz (5 May 2025). "'Bleat'! Trailer: Story Of Couple's Ethical Dilemma Is First Malaysian Short To Screen In Cannes". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 5 May 2025.