Bleat! (Tamil: கத்து! or Kattu!) is a 2025 Malaysian-French-Filipino comedy-drama short film written and directed by Ananth Subramaniam. It stars Tharmasegaran Maniam, Pannerselvam Evarani, Dhanesh Alagarsu, and Charvine Mailvaganam.
The film had its world premiere in the Critics' Week section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Queer Palm for Best Short Film. It is the first short film from Malaysia selected for the festival.
Plot
A male goat belonging to a Malaysian-Tamil couple is discovered to be pregnant before it is meant to be ceremonially slaughtered. The couple seek out the truth of the situation to avoid punishment from Karuppuswamy.
Cast
Tharmasegaran Maniam as Marapan
Pannerselvam Evarani as Papa
Dhanesh Alagarsu as Goat Head
Charvine Mailvaganam as Veter
Big Boy as the goat
Production
Ananth Subramaniam was inspired to create Bleat! by the notion of dropping a pregnant goat into a rigid world. Directed by Subramaniam, Bleat! was a co-production between Sixtymac Pictures of Malaysia, Epicmedia Productions of the Philippines, and DW of France. It received funding from the Singapore International Film Festival's Short Film Fund and Singapore's Momo Distribution Grant.
Shot in black-and-white, all of the filming was done in Banting, Malaysia. Shooting was done in black-and-white as Subramaniam felt that "it brings the story closer to reality" and "strips the world down". Subramaniam was inspired by the works of G. Aravindan, Sam Shepard, and Kelly Reichardt. Collaborators included Adrian Wong as cinematographer and Gogularaajan Rajendran as editor. Post-production work was done by Om Shakthi Films and Om Shakthi Films, colour grading by White Light Post Bangkok in Thailand, sound post-production by dbStudios in Lebanon.
Subramaniam stated that an "unspoken rule" about being a minority is that "as long as you behave like a goat, everything's fine", but whenever "that goat shows desire, independence, or steps beyond its little patch of farmland, everything around it starts trembling."
Release
Hors du Bocal, a Belgian company, is handling the international distribution rights. Four feature films from Malaysia have been shown at the Cannes Film Festival, and Bleat! will compete at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in Critics' Week, being the first Malaysian short film shown at the festival.
