Vipin Vijay’s short film ‘small-scale societies’ attempts to bridge the past and present

The National award-winning short film has Vipin going on a journey through obscure archaeological sites to narrate his abstract theme

Avant-garde filmmaker Vipin Vijay has always been unafraid of excavating his imagination to weave cerebral stories on screen. His latest non-feature film, small-scale societies, is one such experiment that is as thought-provoking as it gets. The film, which Vipin calls “an exploration of archaeological imagination,” won a Special Jury Award (non-feature film) at the 67th National Film Awards. The Kerala-based filmmaker has previously won the same award for his short film, Poomaram, in 2007.

small-scale societies, which is set to be screened at the upcoming International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala in December, started life as a video installation, commissioned by artist and curator Riyas Komu, for the annual Serendipity Arts Festival, a multidisciplinary arts festival, held in Goa.