Little Jaffna (film)

Little Jaffna
Directed by	Lawrence Valin
Written by	Lawrence Valin Yacine Badday Arthur Beaupère
Starring	Lawrence Valin Puviraj Raveendran Vela Ramamoorthy Radhika Sarathkumar Marilou Aussilloux
Cinematography	Maxence Lemonnier
Edited by	Guerric Catala Anaïs Manuelli
Music by	Maxence Dussère
Release date	6 September 2024 (2024-09-06)(Venice)
Country	France
Languages	French Tamil

Little Jaffna is a 2024 French crime film co-written and directed by Lawrence Valin, in his feature film debut. It premiered at the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival.

Cast

• Lawrence Valin as Michael Beauieu
• Puviraj Raveendran as Puvi
• Vela Ramamoorthy as Aya
• Radhika Sarathkumar as Amamma
• Marilou Aussilloux as Chloé
• Kawsie Chandra as Selvi
• Sajinthan Santhiran as Kaso
• Murugadoss Periassamy as Sendhil
• Laura Benson as DGSI Responsible (voice)

Production

The film is an expansion of Valin's 2018 short of the same name. ^{[1] [2]} It was shot with a budget of about 250,000 euros. ^[1] It was produced by Ex Nihilo and Mean Streets, with France 2 Cinéma serving as co-producer. ^[3]

Release

The film premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, in the Critic's Week sidebar. ^{[2] [3]} It was screened in numerous film festivals, including Tokyo International Film Festival, Zurich Film Festival, Les Arcs Film Festival and Red Sea International Film Festival, in which it won the AlUla Audience Award. ^[2]

Reception

The Guardian's film critic Angelique Chrisafis referred to the film as 'one of the most innovative and surprising French gangster films this year' and ^[4] Guillemette Odicino from Télérama described it as an 'highly stylised action and geopolitical immersion'. ^[5]

References

1. Ramachandran, Naman (22 August 2024). "Venice-Bound 'Little Jaffna' Director Lawrence Valin on Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora Experience in France, Clip Unveiled". Variety . Retrieved 23 August 2025.
2. Grierson, Tim (17 December 2024). "'Little Jaffna': Red Sea Review". Screen International . Retrieved 23 August 2025.
3. Lemercier, Fabien (6 September 2024). "Review: Little Jaffna". Cineuropa . Retrieved 23 August 2025.
4. Chrisafis, Angelique (4 May 2025). "Paris-based thriller offers fresh inside take on French-Tamil community". The Guardian . Retrieved 23 August 2025.
5. Odicino, Guillemette (29 April 2025). ""Little Jaffna", thriller stylisé au cœur de la communauté tamoule de Paris". Télérama (in French). Retrieved 23 August 2025.

External links

• Little Jaffna at IMDb