If Bollywood can be likened to Hollywood as India's home of big-budget, mainstream movie-making, then Kerala state's capital, Thiruvanathapuram (aka Trivandrum), is India's Austin.
Kerala is the heart of Indian independent cinema, and Thiruvanathapuram - like the hip Texas capital - is home to the country's most vibrant film festival in one of its most vivid regions.
A short stroll past the tea stalls and restaurants of the city's main drag is an adventure: laid-back, crowded, sweaty and fragrant with the scents of vanilla, cardamom, chilli and cinnamon in the air.
The 18th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) wrapped up on December 13 after eight days - and to say it is like no other festival in the world is an understatement. Anyone who has gone to a movie in India (a valid tourist endeavour) will be well aware of Indian audiences' penchant for making it abundantly clear what they think. Reactions to a bad film can transform a slog into a pleasure. Compound that with an art house-friendly crowd that has developed a taste for the unusual and you have a cocktail for a singular festival experience.
Israeli filmmaker Adi Adwan (in town with Arabani) addressed a house so packed people were sitting in the aisles. The crowd cheered robustly before the film started, prompting Adwan to comment: "I've never had a reception like this to my film. Wow." One screening was so crammed that Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (Netpac) jury members had to make a public appeal for seats. This being Kerala, seats were quickly volunteered.
It's easy to see why film buffs brave the hordes for the festival. An all-inclusive pass is just 400 rupees (HK$50), and allows "delegates" entry to all IFFK events and films.
Kerala's long history of Malayalam-language cinema is ingrained in the state's personality. For a capital, Trivandrum is remarkably unstuffy and classically chaotic. Kochi, farther north, is a hotbed of art and culture. The film industry dates to the late 1930s (the subject of Celluloid, one of the films at the festival this year), and its prominence has further cultivated an already educated - Kerala has the second highest literacy rate in India, at nearly 100 per cent - and discerning audience.