Jude Anthany Joseph, director
I am getting over the disappointment of 2018: Everyone is a Hero having to bow out of the Oscar race, but I know I will get another chance and I will be back at the Academy Awards. When I look back on the year, I am grateful (personally and professionally) to 2023 for 2018 and the way it was received. And it is not so much the feedback from my peers and others in the industry but the ordinary man I meet when I go to the supermarket or to watch a film. They ask me how I made a film like 2018. I feel that, now, even if 10 of my films flop, I will still be known for that one film. I met a Malayali family on my recent trip to Los Angeles who couldn’t stop talking about 2018. It made me think that, perhaps, making the film is the purpose of my life. I hope to make a lot of films: Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and, of course, in Malayalam. But here’s the thing — they will all have the signature of a Malayali filmmaker. I have signed on with an LA-based talent agency DAA, Inc. I expected to be busy till March (with the Academy Awards) but since that has opened up, let’s see which project materialises first.
