- published: 30 Mar 2016
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The Cinema of Kerala or Malayalam cinema is a part of Indian cinema, where motion pictures are produced in the Indian state of Kerala in the Malayalam language. Malayalam cinema has pioneered various technical, thematic and production techniques among films in India. The industry is one of the largest producers of parallel cinema in India.
Guru and Adaminte Makan Abu were the only Malayalam films to be sent by India as its official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1997 and 2011 respectively. The first 3-D film produced in India, My Dear Kuttichathan (1984), was made in Malayalam. The first CinemaScope film produced in South India was the Malayalam film Thacholi Ambu (1978). The world's first film with just one actor in the star cast was the Malayalam film The Guard (2001).
At first (beginning in the 1920s), the Malayalam film industry was based in Thiruvananthapuram. Later, the industry shifted to Chennai, which then was the capital of the southern Indian film industry. In the 2000s, the Malayalam film industry returned to Kerala and established itself in Kochi with a major chunk of locations, studios and production facilities.