Cannes 2024 (La Cinef Winner): Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know… (by Chidananda S Naik) | Review

An auteur always evokes a sense of engagement, a mind-boggling freshness that is a trademark. It shines, sparkles with excellence, and stands alone, bringing loads of followers with it. The same form of engagement was present in Chidananda S. Naik’s short Whispers and Echoes, which premiered at the 2021 Bengaluru International Short Film Festival, and the experience was a tattooed memory that can never be erased. Then comes the 2024 Cannes La Cinef winner, Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know…, which explodes with beaming energy, overshadowing the rest.

What appears to be a straightforward story is infused with sophisticated artistic elements throughout the film, elevating it to a level of fantasy that surpasses surrealism, transforming it into a disparate genre of beliefs and values. We witness a village in a state of despair upon learning that a rooster has been stolen, leading to complete darkness and the absence of the sun. Everyone is distressed, perplexed, and unable to comprehend the reason for this new normal and starts placing the blame on Mallappa’s mother, an elderly woman who is rumored to have stolen the rooster and triggered the curse. Mallappa (Jahangeer M. S.), a self-centered individual who wants nothing more than his own comfort, is unbothered by the sudden change yet frustrated by his mother’s actions. Mallappa’s son (Vishwas B. S.) holds the secret code to crack the mystery, but what emerges from his memories and theories takes the world by storm, heading towards a bombarded universe of magnificence.

Despite the obvious elimination of daylight in the film, which was entirely shot at night, the intensity of darkness seems to collaborate with an orange shade to bring in the spectrum of heat—an ongoing heated moment that increases anxiety. It’s not a thriller that aims to evoke intense moments, nor is it a horror film that presents terrifying images to frighten us. The film is a full mode character study among those who are deeply aroused by prophecies and culture, the trust bestowed upon a belief system that has made these individuals cope with their everyday lives. It’s a state of survival at most, where each has their own version of misery while the absence of the sun has almost triggered their end of endurance and initiated a mental chaos—yet hysteria is not heard or seen but felt within their personalities. There’s an underlying motive that seeks a connection between the basis of curses in traditions and the power of destiny that puts hopes on people while barricading lights (blessings) in a symbolic sense. The reference to wild beasts in the forest to inner trauma and battle speaks of mankind’s fears towards discovering the truth, while also highlighting the parallel perspective of losing trust in others along the journey.

Director Chidananda S. Naik pins the sentence “A man can only lie about forgetting” at the most important moment, and everything begins to resurface. Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know… is a fairytale presented with exquisiteness, almost staggering to look at, and a haunting end that glimpses through the eyes of a menacing truth. The film is a masterful narrative of perceptions, an ongoing debate of a peculiar occurrence that blurs the boundaries of validity, creating the potential for conjecture. As the dark hole in the well begins to shrink, the gravity of a mother’s boundless love chomps up even the wildest beast of the forest, a journey that can never be comprehended by those who seek to step back from absolution. Yet it holds the ultimate power to change the course of the universe.

Explore our exclusive coverage of the 77th Cannes Film Festival here.